Silence
by Dauthi
Summary: Because he could speak, he was silent. Partly AU, some Mudshipping and Flameshipping. Ch.11 up! Garet remembers what it's like to live.
1. Silence

Silence

_Chapter 1: Silence_

_Original Date Published: 4/23/03_  
_Current Date: 2/7/05_

2 years. Ouchies. I really need to get a move on the story... It will be finished before the end of the year though. Right now I'm trying to keep it to two weeks, but it's obviously going over by a bit. There will prolly be 6 or 7 more chapters, and then it'll be done. :p

So, I didn't edit much. Got rid of the ellipses because there were too many and it detracted from the story by a lot. Changed some of the sentences so that they would sound better, make more sense, and have better syntax. The way the ideas flowed was exactly as I wanted it though, unlike later chapters(which will need a bit more revision) so that's pretty much it.

* * *

There is a silence in every one of us. There is a darkness, a muteness waiting to swallow us up. Emotions, they are just steps to that pit beyond. It is the abyss of eternity, of - 

"SILENCE!" The word burst out of the Great Healer's mouth angrily. Instantly, the people hushed up.

The Great Healer scowled and looked at the charred post, which held the burnt form of a baby. Murderously he hissed, "Who brought forth this persecution?"

All of a sudden everyone's gaze fell away from the Great Healer, and deigned to look anywhere but on that fiery face. This only served to make the Great Healer, usually calm and kind, more enraged.

"WHO WOULD THINK THEMSELVES HIGH ENOUGH TO HURT AN INNOCENT BABY!"

Still no response came from the people, thoroughly terrified now. But then, one villager's gaze became transfixed on the person standing to the right of the charred post. And then another. And yet another. Soon the whole village was staring at the person. The elderly man with trussed white hair began to sweat, knowing that it was obvious who had tried to destroy the child.

The Great Healers powerful gaze turned to him.

The man made a last-ditch effor to appeal. "B-but, y-your honor, h-h-he c-c-could s-speak from birth! I-it was un- unnatural! He h-had to b-b-be a d-d-demon!"

"Enough." All of a sudden the Great Healer seemed weary. With, slow, plodding steps, he walked up the stairs and untied the blackened ropes, gently scooping up the baby. Silently he walked towards his house, and then paused at the entrance. "It is not my place to hurt, only to heal. The gods will condemn you as they see fit, Mayor." He disappeared into his quiet abode.

Outside, silence still reigned. Then shocked whispers began to run through the crowd.

"You mean, that wasn't a demon?"  
"Would the mayor really do such a thing?"

Most of the people there had run to the spot when they had seen the bright orange fire burning at the base of Mount Aleph. The Mayor was there along with Kyle and Dora, with Kyle and Dora pleading for their child's life as the Mayor roughly lashed the baby to the post. Kyle had been ready to sock the Mayor in the face, stopped only by the fact that it was forbidden to harm another citizen of Vale.

The burning had already started by the time the villagers got there, so that when the Mayor told them he was burning a demon, they couldn't tell whether it really was a demon, or something else entirely. Such was the scene when the Great Healer came out, startled by all the people rushing past his house.

Kyle stared at the sanctuary into which his son had disappeared, then dropped to his knees to comfort the weeping Dora. Sorrowfully she whispered to him, "Our son."

He stroked her back, not caring about such a display of affection in the public, and murmured into her ear, "It'll be okay. Don't worry. Isaac's tougher than that. He's gifted. After all, the first thing he did when he was born was to say the word 'momma,' wasn't it?"

A smile lit her face at that cherished memory, until the clouds of worry darkened her face again. "But what if."

"Don't worry about what ifs," Kyle said firmly. "As long as Isaac lives, everything will be alright. And Isaac will live." Dora leaned against him, comforted for now. But inside them both, even the hope that Isaac would live had been distinguished, when they had seen the utterly burnt body that had not emitted a single sound through the entire ordeal.

As for the tiny child being talked about, currently he was wrapped in a dry towel, sleeping on the Great Healer's bed. The Great Healer had tried to heal as many of the burns as possible, but some of them were just too severe.

Sadly he looked at the softly breathing baby. "Ah, why are humans so cruel, little one? Why should they hurt what they do not understand, why should they try to destroy the gifted and beautiful? All I can ask of you is to take pity on them, for they do not understand the tranquility of peace, nor the beauty of innocence. Find some way to forgive them in your heart, and forget whatever you were thinking on this terrible day."

* * *

Serpents, slithering through the fire. Coming to consume him, coming to burn him. Skeletons jumping out in green flashes, a horrible orchestra of century-old rusting blades and crumbling bones. He was stuck in a deep pit of dank earth, with frosty ice spikes running along its walls. Lightning rained down from above, and the thunder boomed in terrible voices. Up above the wind howled and moaned, a horror Isaac could not escape from, with a towering circle of fire encompassing the area around him. 

Rotting zombies that stank of feces stumbled along wandering paths, burning if they came into contact with the circle of fire. Harpies with sharp steel wings flapped through the air, screeching out glass-breaking cries. A three- headed Cerberus suddenly leaped out from the fire and snapped at him, grazing his soft forehead, then sprinted off again to its unknown destination.

Isaac whimpered at this sudden pain and curled up into as small of a ball as his already small form could allow. This was hell, and he was in it before he knew its meaning.

A great crashing noise that shook the ground caused Isaac to peek out from behind his minute knees. A large crevice opened up in the pit walls, and stomping through it was.

He. It was a towering monstrosity, its skin a leathery black. Sinews seemed ready to burst out of every part of its body, and pulsed disgustingly just under the skin. Spikes curved from every joint on it, with the two on its shoulder rising over its head and crossing with each other.

Its head sported large flaps of leathery skin on each side of its head, with a slit of an ear situated just under the flaps. Ruby red eyes glittered from the two sockets on its dragon-like head, reflecting the fire that surrounded this entire abyss in its crystal inhumanity. Its nostrils were also like slits, pointing at each other to form a "v" shape. The upper teeth of its mouth overlapped the lower. Each tooth was curved in the shape of a wicked saber. The upper teeth were at least five times the size of Isaac, while the lower were still at least three times the size of the baby floating in the darkness. The mouth, partly open, stank of a rotting things, and a black-red tongue poked out of its mouth occasionally. Great droplets of blood dripped from its sturdy yet yellow teeth, and decaying bits on its gums dropped off constantly.

Its body was covered with a once white vest, now stained with blood. Even the unbreakable titanium under the white cloth had become tainted with blood, a sickening mixture of black and red. A skull was placed in the socket of its chest. Oily black tendrils poked out and retreat across the skull as tiny red rubies glittered out from its eye sockets. The skull's lower jaw was set so that the skull smiled, but it was a terrible smile, one that spoke of vice, misery, and insanity.

The rest of the demon's body was covered by monstrous spikes and diamond- like scales. A gargantuan tail protruded out of its rear end, rising up above the demon's head and spikes. The tail was split into four ends. There was a glistening bone spike tearing out of each end, each spike dripping a different kind of putrid poison.

Isaac felt himself being lifted up by a dark magic, and a horrible bellowing voice rang inside his head.

_WHO ARE YOU? _

/I am Isaac./

_ARE YOU REALLY? _

Tigers roared in agony, wolves howled in pain, all in his mind, all in his mind...

/I am... I-I-Isaa.../

A bright yellow light, emitted from the center of the tower, an embodiment of the earth's power. A fight between five, a battle for one. The power of earth roars its fury as the contestants fight.

/I am.../

A great two-headed dragon, rising up to meet him, ready to kill him. The winds howl and the stones shake, an ancient power in flux. An agonized cry, coming from someone he knows but hasn't met. A sword, whistling through the air.

/I.../

Blood, seeping through the age old cracks in the stone, milling around eddies and swirls of dust. Dead, they are, bloody carcasses ripped and mauled into obscured pieces. Red hair becomes an even fiercer red as it soaks up blood like a mop. Eyeballs roll in the sickening red as their blond-haired owner lays spread-eagled across the worn stones. Long blue hair whips around everywhere, their pure blue tendrils now drenched with blood. Her face still retains its pristine beauty, even as her open mouth spills blood everywhere. A seal is broken.

/I.../

A fight between two, a battle for one. He is the only person left standing. Black wings rip out of his back, black gauntlets infused with burning blades appear on his wrists. A brooch of cackling skulls attaches itself to him. His messy hair becomes mussed up even more as it whips around him, his eyes glowing an ice red. An aura of hell encircles him. It is a day of reckoning.

/Don't./

A great dragon falls, brought down by a hell blade. He falls to his knees, hands covered completely with the dark blood of the dragon. Misery and pain take over as he contemplates his once alive companions. Slowly, his glowing red eyes harden into completely iced blue ones. Suddenly, he gets up, cackling murderously. Insanely he stumbles away, a person who's mind has finally collapsed and given itself up to hell, a mind that has finally been torn into shreds of insanity by terrible tragedies.

/Know.../

The great demon smiled maliciously at this answer, and hissed sadistically at Isaac.

_You are mine now, little one. You do not have a name. You do not know who you are. You are- _

_Silence.

* * *

_

Kyle and Dora watched anxiously as the Great Healer inspected Isaac for problems. As soon as the Great Healer straightened his back, he was bombarded by the couple with questions.

"Is there something wrong with him?"  
"Will he be all right?"

The Healer smiled gently and reassured them, "There's nothing wrong with him. These burns may take a while to heal, but only the one on his back will be permanent."

The two relaxed visibly.

The Great Healer then frowned. "Unfortunately, Isaac will never speak again. There was something wrong with the element in his speech. A great disturbance had taken place there, one that I cannot heal, so that Isaac will be a mute for the rest of his life."

Dora almost seemed ready to have another breakdown, but instead just murmured to Kyle, "He'll never speak again. Our darling gifted child, he'll never say another word again."

Kyle just stood there stoically, then turned his head and muttered to Dora, "Hey, it's better than we hoped for."

* * *

He was lost. He was falling. He was trapped. Suddenly, a dark force took hold of him and yanked him out of the confines of his mind, only to leave him sitting before something he feared even more than his own darkness. 

The demon was back again. Lava seeped from the imprints of its feet as it stretched out a hand and started raising him up, up, and up.

Before he left the fiery pit, the demon gave him one last message.

_You are going back now, Silence. You have a task to complete. But remember this. Do not speak. Do not touch. Do not feel. A great tragedy shall befall you should you disobey. Or perhaps you should. Here the demon smiled. If you do- _

_You will be mine once again._

_

* * *

_Um, yeah. Why couldn't be cooler and allow spacers the way I want them? Allow proper HTML? Allow proper asterisk-commentthingys! .:tears hair out:.  
**Garet:**Calm down! .:looks worried:.  
**Kamui:**Or I shall chop your head off! .:wields sword and stands in heroic position:.  
**Garet:**.:sweatdrop:. Somehow, I don't think that will help... 


	2. Death

Silence  
  
Grr... the irony... I just happened to write this story when I was in the Jupiter Lighthouse(Lost Age), and that's where you meet Isaac and friends. Guess what? I found out Isaac talks! And right after I posted this too... Although, I was sorta expecting it... I mean, Felix talks in GS, but not in GS2, cause he's the main character... It still makes me mad though! I mean, I liked Isaac when he was silent... Okay, you can stop listening to my ranting now.  
  
Oh yeah, Firestorm, you still haven't gotten an account yet? Oh well, good ta know you're here, at any rate. Kamui! Kamui! ^_^ And Helicopter Pilot, I'll tell you where I've been at the end of the chapter, cause there's quite a lot I want to explain. That way, you'll have to read my story! Although you could always just scroll to the bottom. oh well.  
  
Disclaimer: ^_^ You guys missed it the first time. I don't own Golden Sun. Camelot and Nintendo do.  
  
  
  
A blond boy of 14 sleeps soundly on his bed, covered by a quilt shaped with bright cloud designs. Suddenly, a woman rushes in, roughly yanking him out of his bed. She tells him that a storm is brewing, and a giant boulder will crush him if he doesn't get to the town plaza in time. She pauses her frantic rushing for a moment to fondly pat the boy on the head, telling him, "You're a big boy now Isaac. You can get to the plaza on your own. I have to go help Kyle and the others now." Then she speeds out the door, leaving the boy on his own.  
  
~*~*~  
  
Isaac couldn't care less about the situation outside. Then again, he didn't really want to die yet, and if his mother's words were true, a gigantic boulder would soon be crashing down the mountain. He wondered briefly why the people of the village couldn't stop it using their psyenergy, then decided he'd better get to the town plaza before his mother became panicked again.  
  
Throwing on his tunic and pulling up his pants, he exited the door and went down the stairs, only to narrowly avoid being crushed beneath a huge boulder. Luckily it just missed him, instead making its home right in front of the stairs. He stared at the boulder for a moment then turned around and headed for the other set of stairs. Unfortunately, just then another boulder decided to roll its way down the hill, just managing to fly over his house, instead landing right in front of Isaac, blocking his path. Thinking about how it was just his luck, he headed up the stairs behind his house to take the longer way into the town plaza.  
  
"Ugh! Stupid thing!"  
  
Isaac turned his head towards the source of the noise. A spiky red- haired boy was straining to lift his bags, so that his things wouldn't be destroyed. Garet, son of the Mayor. Somewhere inside him a bubble of darkness began to nag in his ear, but he shook it off and walked over to Garet instead, pointing at the direction of the town plaza. Garet stopped to puzzle out what Isaac meant. After a few minutes Garet asked, "What about my bags?"  
  
Isaac stomped his foot exasperatedly. Here they were, stuck in the middle of a life and death situation and Garet was worrying about his stuff?! Garet seemed to have gotten it this time, and angrily retorted, "You're saying I should just leave them here?"  
  
Isaac nodded, and proceeded to fight a staring contest with Garet until Garet suddenly blinked, exclaiming, "Hey, you're right! After all, my things aren't as important as me!"  
  
Sadly Isaac shook his head at Garet's thickness, then started off on the path again, Garet following obediently behind. Crossing the bridge, they heard a rumbling noise. Looking up at the peak of the cliff, they saw a gigantic boulder rolling down the cliff. The people were trying to use their psyenergy to stop it, but were slowly being drained of the essence.  
  
/So that's what they were doing... It's too much even for them.../  
  
One of the people taking a breath happened to look down the edge of the cliff, and exclaimed, "What are you kids doing down there?! Hurry and get to the town plaza."  
  
Garet jumped at this, and poked Isaac. "C'mon, let's go."  
  
Isaac silently took the lead, giving no indication he'd heard Garet.  
  
~*~*~  
  
"Quick, you two, go find someone!"  
  
...  
  
"It's coming!!!"  
  
...  
  
"FELIX!!!"  
  
...  
  
"They're all gone."  
  
~*~*~  
  
/Why does psyenergy exist?/  
  
/Why do we exist?/  
  
/Why was my father killed?/  
  
/Why couldn't his power save him?/  
  
/Should I care?/  
  
/I feel coldness.../  
  
/I don't care.../  
  
/Darkness.../  
  
~*~*~  
  
"Allow us to introduce ourselves. My name is Menardi."  
  
"And I, Saturos."  
  
"Prepare to die."  
  
Isaac drew out his sword, and Garet followed suit. He remarked to Isaac, "These guys sure are awfully mean."  
  
Isaac did not reply, instead rushing in for the first attack. Eyeing the blue haired man carefully, he lunged at a weak spot.  
  
A hiss escaped out of Saturos's mouth as he narrowed his eyes at the little blond boy who managed to score a hit. Raising his hand for a fire spell, he met the boy's eyes, and instantly paused.  
  
The boy's eyes were a crystal blue. They were as cold as ice, but imbued with a hellish furor. Saturos was almost... afraid of those eyes.  
  
This pause gave the other boy Garet, just enough time to launch a strike as well, although his clumsiness and extremely loud war cry made it rather easy to dodge him. Menardi arched a quizzical eyebrow at the fact that he hadn't cast a spell, then shrugged and cast a fire spell of her own. The power of it was more than enough to subdue Garet, but Isaac didn't seem to be affected by it very much. Surprised at this revelation, she took a good look at Isaac.  
  
His ice blue eyes glared back at her, making her take a step back. Now she knew why Saturos had paused, and she didn't blame him. For the boy was imbued with the powers of hell. A faint aura surrounded him, meaning he hadn't reached or realized his true powers yet, but it was there.  
  
"We would do well not to kill these two, Menardi. They probably won't trouble us in the future either." She nodded, but asked, "Why not the red- haired one though?"  
  
Saturos replied, "Because he is the friend of the red-haired one. Surely he will seek vengeance." He then raised a hand, summoning the fire magic that had dissipated while he was distracted.  
  
"Goodbye."  
  
Fire spewed from the blue hand, taking the form of a dragon. The fire quickly consumed Isaac in burns, which was when the two made their escape. They needn't have worried about the blond-haired boy though. He was being enveloped once again in nightmares. As his glazed eyes stared blankly at nothing, as his terrified eyes stared fearfully at phantoms, a voice rumbled in his head, one he had forgotten, but still recognized.  
  
*It has begun....*  
  
  
  
Now, for Helicopter Pilot and anyone else who wants to know, I've been in China all this time, and currently I'm stuck in my house because of the SARS problem. We got vacation from the end of April to the middle of May, to try to lessen the speed SARS is traveling through Beijing, although it isn't working very well, considering the fact that yesterday Beijing just found at least 100 new cases of SARS. The school I was in was actually located less than half a mile from a hospital that's now been turned into one specially used for quarantine. (Eep! Scary!) In fact, some of the schools in Beijing have announced that "summer" vacation will now start in April, all the way to September. (Yes! I still have to wait for my school to announce that though...)  
  
It's not as great as it sounds though. We all have to stay at home the entire day, so that we don't get SARS ourselves. At the beginning it was great because I got to stay home the entire day playing on the computer and the GBA(Lost Age ^_^), but after a while it got real boring. You also eat instant noodles every day, because that's about the only thing that makes a meal but is not perishable and is not touched by other people. At the supermarket, you couldn't even buy salt, cause people were buying them in large masses so that they could survive eating rice and instant noodles for ten days without exiting the house once. (Rice does not perish when raw) Yeah, that's what it's come to. If you've ever been to China, even the buses during the rush hours are only half-filled with people, those being the ones that are required to go to work. (electricity, etc.) 


	3. Disaster

They say, that for every choice, there is another choice, another possibility, that leads to several more choices, several more possibilities. They say that there are different universes, different paradoxes co-existing together, in the same lifeline, twists off different worlds. But what if? What if, no matter what choice you made, the end result would still be the same? What if, even if you decided to do nothing, you would still end up at the same exact place, at the same exact time? What if it was inevitable?  
  
~*~*~  
  
/Move!/  
  
The batch of straw rose up by some mystical magic, and slowly moved towards the right, before comfortably settling down and weaving itself among the other straws of the roof. The lanky boy controlling the magic stood on the roof, beads of sweat streaming down his face from the scorching sun.  
  
He gestured, and another bundle of straw made its way to the other hole in the roof, patching it up. The boy repeated it one more time before climbing down the ladder, allowing the shade of the roof to shelter him. His ice blue eyes squinted against the sun as his mother climbed up the ladder, inspecting for other holes in the roof.  
  
A burble of angry voices made its way to his ear, causing him to turn his head towards the sound. Garet and Jenna were heading towards him, furiously arguing about who damaged who's property.  
  
"You brute, you burned up my tree stump!"  
  
"Couldn't be helped, I'm a fire Adept. Besides, your flame storm destroyed all the grass in our backyard!"  
  
Dora turned her head at this sound as well, and smiled at the two teens.  
  
"Well hello there! Have you two come for Isaac?"  
  
Jenna's voice instantly sweetened.  
  
"Yes, Kraden wants us to go to his house for some new studies."  
  
"Well, once I'm done inspecting the roof, Isaac can go."  
  
Bustling about, Dora stooped and checked each patch, finally rising up to say, "Well, everything is just fine. Your psyenergy has gotten so much better, Isaac! You're growing up to be just like your dad..."  
  
A sad smile appeared on her face as she reminisced, then she brightened and said, "Run along now, Isaac. You don't want Kraden to wait. I'll just..."  
  
Walking towards the ladder, she stepped on one of the patches, which collapsed, causing her foot to get stuck in the hole. After yanking it out, she grinned, embarrassed.  
  
"What a stupid mistake." Right after saying that, she took a step back, causing Garet to call out, "Not there, Mrs. Sol!"  
  
Dora jumped back, but it was already too late to keep the straw from falling. Unfortunately for her, the spot she jumped on was yet another spot that Isaac had patched up. Naturally, it fell as well. Isaac grimaced at the spectacle. He'd spent three hours working on the roof, and in five minutes, it was all destroyed.  
  
Dora sighed and told them, "Don't worry. I'll work on it by myself. Run along now, you three."  
  
Hesitantly they left the site. When there was no crash from the house behind them, they became reassured, and lazily walked towards their next destination.  
  
~*~*~  
  
Kraden smiled at the giggling kids. Ah, to be young again... Smirking at himself, he shook his head. Jenna was currently trying to beat Garet up, for some snide remark Garet had made. Isaac though... Isaac was silently walking on the path, ahead of everyone. Isaac seemed so... old sometimes, older than all of them, than the world itself. Perhaps it was because he never spoke.  
  
Suddenly Isaac stopped. Garet crashed into him, which caused Jenna to crash into Garet. The two would've started fighting again if they hadn't seen a disciple of the Great Healer. He was walking around the entrance of Mt. Aleph, so that no one would be able to enter. That included the one old man and three Adepts crouching behind the bushes.  
  
Jenna eyed the disciple's movements and when the guy's back was turned, she whispered, "Now!"  
  
All of them rushed into the entrance of Mt. Aleph and Sol Sanctum.  
  
Upon entering, the first words out of Garet's mouth were, "It's huge..."  
  
Kraden smiled, and looked joyfully around the Sanctum.  
  
"Yes, it's magnificent, isn't it?" Then his smile turned to a frown. "I've never been able to find anything else here besides this one room though."  
  
Garet strode up to the statue in the middle and punched it with all his power. The statue showed no sign of breaking though, instead leaving Garet with a bloody fist.  
  
"Oww..."  
  
Jenna sneered at Garet. "Punching stone statues is not the smartest thing to do."  
  
Garet glared at Jenna. "Well, do you have something better in mind?"  
  
This started one of their heated arguments again. While this was going on, Isaac walked up to the statue and raised his arms, his face contorting to the intense expression of someone using psyenergy. After several rings of magic floated from his body, a giant hand formed and pushed the statue to the left, revealing a passageway behind.  
  
Kraden smiled at the boy. "Very good work, Isaac! Now let's go see what's in the rest of this place."  
  
~*~*~  
  
Kraden frantically yelled something at Isaac. Ignoring the panicked pleas, Isaac pushed the statue into place. The sanctum began to rumble. Stones fell and statues crumbled. Kraden hurried out of a gargantuan stone's path and yelped, "I told you to stop! You were supposed to debug the trap first! Now our village will be slaughtered in an avalanche again!"  
  
Isaac stood there, horror dawning on his face. Garet grabbed his shirt and dragged him along, yelling, "It doesn't matter who set it off! We all worked on this together, and if we don't get out, we're gonna be crushed!"  
  
All four started bolting for the stairs. Entering the next room, they barely noticed that the Sol sign in the room had changed to Luna, instead rushing headlong for the doorway. Suddenly, a giant stone dropped from the ceiling, ready to splinter Jenna's skull into several pieces. She stared terrified at the stone, then crumpled, flying, as Garet barreled into her from behind. A sickening crunch was heard, and Isaac stared blankly at the purple-tinted fluid streaming from the cracked skull of the spiky red- haired boy. Soon a pool of red had gathered around the boy. Stones dropped into the blood, coating the stones with the substance and creating splashes of red on everyone. It was as if they were there to guard the mass of splintered bones, a small grave for the brave soul.  
  
Sharp fingernails dug into Isaac's hand. He turned his head to see Jenna, pulling him along out of the room, even as tears streaked down her face. Kraden was already disappearing down the next passageway.  
  
Another great slab of stone descended from the ceiling, and Isaac slammed Jenna through the room as the stone dropped. Jenna screamed as the stone crashed onto the ground, but there was no sound of snapping bones. Startled, she looked around the room, but there was no blue-eyed blond to be found anywhere in the room, not even under the stone. She created a quick prayer for the teen, then bolted out the doorway, droplets of water marking the path she took.  
  
With a horrific boom, Sol Sanctum collapsed unto itself, setting off its final method of trapping the intruders who had dared to steal its treasure within. No one was going to get out alive. Only two had escaped ever, and it wanted it to stay that way.  
  
Unfortunately for the Sanctum, it, like everything else, rarely got what it wanted.  
  
~*~*~  
  
Isaac propelled himself backwards as the stone crashed down. His neck hit a tiny hole in the wall of the room, and as the debris and dust swirled all around, he was sucked into a blue portal, and disappeared.  
  
Emerging from the portal in a bright flash of light, he blinked. A quick sweep around the room told him all he needed to know. These were the four Elemental Stars, the legends that Kraden had raved about forever when they had had lessons. The stars were supposedly guarded inside the Sol Sanctum, and they were the essence of Alchemy.  
  
However, the stars could not just sit anywhere. They were guarded for a reason. Across Weyard, there were four lighthouses, each representing its respective element. The lighthouses were created to bind the full power of Alchemy, releasing it only if the Elemental Stars lit each lighthouse. The legends said that should that happen, true Alchemy would be released upon Weyard, and the world would be destroyed by terrible monsters. Isaac shrugged. Kraden had wanted to find out if the legend was true, as well as gather the stars for research. If the legend of Sol Sanctum was true, then the legend of Alchemy destroying the world was probably true as well. At any rate, he could probably gather the stars right now, to give to Kraden if that old man got out of the Sanctum.  
  
Isaac hopped from one stone to the next. Finally gathering all four stars, he rushed out the portal. Isaac was just in time to be buried under a statue. His left hand, clutching three of the four stars, slowly relaxed, and the shimmering mythril bags rolled out of his hand.  
  
A shadow flitted by. Stooping, he gathered up the bags, then frowned at the boy. There should be another one, the Mars Star... Musing that it was probably lost somewhere else inside the ruins, Saturos retreated, content with just three for now. He would come back another day, when it was safer and there was less debris. A small thought kept on nagging at his mind. He'd seen that boy before somewhere, at some point... Shrugging the thought off, he hurried to the red-eyed blond standing at the top of the hill.  
  
"Did you check to see if he was dead?"  
  
Saturos groaned. He'd completely forgotten about it. "I forgot about it, Menardi. Anyway, he can't be alive, buried under all that rubble. Even if he was, if he stays out there for a day, he'll definitely die. The Mars Star will be ours."  
  
They set out across the hills, waiting to come another day.  
  
~*~*~  
  
"Over here! I found another one!"  
  
The motley search crew rushed over to the figure, and set out to excavate the rocks atop of the person. Kay squinted at the blond-haired boy and started.  
  
"That's Isaac!"  
  
One man stopped, mopping the sweat off his brow with a grimy cloth. Sadly he said, "This one's gonna be hard for Dora. She lost her husband three years ago, and now she's lost Isaac too. Her relatives are all dead as well."  
  
Another man scowled at the speaker and said, "Don't say that! We don't know if Isaac's dead, if this is indeed Isaac!"  
  
The other man shrugged, putting the cloth back into his pocket. Making no other reply, he started channeling energy to lift a rock. It wasn't likely that Isaac, or whoever this person was, was going to be alive. None of the other people they'd found had been, and it'd been two days since the Sanctum had collapsed. It was surprising that there were even people at the Sanctum, as it was off limits to everyone. Kraden could've answered for that, as he was notorious for sneaking into restricted areas and researching the things inside them. No one could've asked for a better Alchemy professor though. It was too bad he was dead now, his body found near the entrance. Kraden's face had borne the eternally thankful expression of someone who had finally gotten freedom. It was rather ironic that he'd gotten killed right at that point.  
  
Suddenly shouts arose from the people in the area. They'd turned the boy over and detected a heartbeat.  
  
"It's Isaac! And he's alive!"  
  
Everyone bolted, carrying the body down the hill, weaving through the ruins. Depositing the boy at the town's doctor, they went back to the rubble searching with renewed effort, spirits raised dramatically.  
  
~*~*~  
  
"Your son has several broken ribs, and only his left arm was not broken. He is suffering from dehydration and lack of a good supply of oxygen. Despite of that, he has no internal bleeding. It's a miracle. He's going to live."  
  
~*~*~  
  
"We mourn the deaths of 19 people. Aaron, Garet, Jenna..."  
  



	4. Interlude: Wings of Fire

Silence   
_A production by Tiger Dauthi_   
Chapter 4: Interlude: Wings of Fire 

The world is not a fair place. It doesn't give second chances, doesn't allow it. And thus, it depends on the people to adapt, to try to make the world as fair as possible. It depends on the people to create morals to live by, to make a second chance. It depends on the person, to get what he wants the most... 

~*~*~ 

/Why is it so dark here?/ 

Indeed, his surroundings were a pitch black, so that he couldn't see his hands right in front of him. The only feeling he had was a light breeze blowing against his face. Otherwise there was nothing. Not even the ground he was standing on really seemed there. 

/Oh right, I'm dead./ 

But even death should not be like this, a yawning emptiness of boredom. Boredom was even worse than pain, to him. Then again, obviously, he couldn't know what death was like. 

Suddenly, a stream of fire arose, enveloping him. He could see! Although there was nothing much to see, the darkness still smothering most of the area. But at least - looking down, he saw that he really wasn't standing on anything - he was floating. He tried taking a step foward. The column of fire moved along with him, but all was the same as before; The darkness had no end. 

He yelled. The sound started out loud and clear, but as soon as it hit the darkness it dissipated. Apparently, even having this column of fire was not going to help anything. He started walking. 

It was funny how, when in total boredom he could not think of anything except how bored he was, yet when Kraden had been droning on about some subject or another he was always daydreaming. Which reminded him, where was Kraden? That old bastard, running off and leaving them three teenagers to fend for themselves. If he didn't die this time, he'd get caught one day or another taking another risky venture- and it'd serve him right. But he shouldn't fume over Kraden right now, it'd have no use, and besides, he had plenty of time in the future to do it. 

A pain suddenly shot up at him through his ankle. Somehow, he'd twisted it when walking... And that twisted ankle was pulled by a vacuum, sucking him under from the hole that surfaced in a sheet of nothing. 

He was reminded of the initial pain he'd felt from the stone falling on him, the injuries reappeared on his body, the person, Jenna... 

~*~*~ 

When he came to, he was not in some sort of limbo anymore. Well, perhaps he still was, but it was not limbo in the sense that he imagined, in the sense like the previous... plane, he decided to call it. 

There were things now. A wall of granite stretched before him, and a ring of fire surrounded him. His own column of fire had dissipated, though that was but a small matter. But... nothing else. 

Yet he couldn't shake off the feeling, that this place was... evil. Haunted, some would say. As if waiting to eat him alive. And then he saw it. 

The firelight reflected faintly of the parts of its bones not caked with mud. The figure was disformed - the skull was cracked, and its left arm was twisted impossibly. The leg, as well, was bent inwards. It was walking though, walking towards him. 

A low rumbling sound filled the place, as he saw the bones, skeletons, marching along; the moving piles of sludge, rotting feces trudging; a high howl, and then triple-tailed brown wolves leaped towards him, red eyes glowing with delight. 

He screamed, and retreated unto himself, curling up into a ball. 

He musn't die, he couldn't die, he didn't deserve this... 

Yes, he was dead. But a second, a third death were no less horrifying than the first... 

The wolf got there first, and leaped. He cringed, and a flash of red covered his eyes. 

This... was hell... 

~*~*~ 

The beast rose in front of him. Fangs dripping with saliva, horns protruding out, eyes glowing, black armor shining, even in the darkness. 

Instinctively he knew that this was it. This was the monster that controlled everything, from this dark pit to the ghastly hands that stole from the living world. The odor it exuded, the attitude it presented... No one else was every like this. 

Except... it was a bit similar... No. That would never be possible. 

*But yes.* 

The silence became pregnant, and he struggled to remember the name of that... that person... 

*He has been forgotten.* 

It was just a simple statement, a fact. But to him it was as if something had *died*, right then and there. To be forgotten... Is worse than death... 

*She has been forgotten.* 

And this was not possible. He could not forget *her*, she was too important. But he had. He thought about her face and found he couldn't recall it. Her personality and found he couldn't remember. Her warmth, he couldn't feel it... 

All that was left to him was a name. 

/Jenna./ 

*She has been forgotten.* 

The sentence was repeated again, as if to throw another heavy blanket over his mind, covering it forever. There was nothing strange about the sentence itself, only the malice that pressed behind it. It couldn't pierce the tiny cocoon that he had created for himself though. He wouldn't forget. 

*She has been-   
/NO!/ 

Fire. Dancing. The blinding rays of light struck him, and the demon silently retreated. He would not forget. He did not know her, did not know her face, did not know her person. But he knew her name, and so he would find her. 

/Jenna! I'm coming for you!/ 

* * *

Lolz, I wonder if you guys still remember me... so Hi! Okay, that sounded stupid. Anyway, muses-   
Kamui: That was stupid.   
...   
Garet: What in the world was that? 

Okay, so maybe it was kinda rushed. And its really really short. But I lost the half-finished copy of this I had somewhere, so I had to restart, and it came out completely differently from what I imagined. Ah, the beauty of writing! 

Garet: *snort* *snort* *snort*   
Kamui: Pig...   
Garet: Why you... *proceeds to do fancy poses that make him fall over* 

Ehehe... Well, I'm not gonna reply to reviews now, because this story's like, what, eight months old by now? I'll say thanks to Mikaa though, because without another e-mail complaining about my sluggishness I think I would've taken another year. (You know, I told Mikaa to wait another year, because I have a life now. My life's gone bye-bye again, heh) And now, after seeing all those good (and not so good, rather terrible) stories on GS, I'm ready to write again! Not much though, just finish stories. I suck at finishing stories. 

And finally, I will say: Go Read Mikaa's Parallel! It's actually pretty good. And yes, I'm doing advertising because I feel like it. And read Midnight C and Triad Orion's stories too, because you shouldn't be wasting your time loafing around on these pointless stories. Then again, you've probably already read them. And if you hate Mudshipping, er... Come to think of it, when was the last time I read a story not Mudshipping? Glkagh.(New word) 

And finally finally, yes I know my writing style's really weird. Completely different from everyone elses. Haha, bye! 


	5. Ridding the World of Hope

Silence  
_Chapter 5: Ridding the World of Hope_

By Tiger Dauthi  


I swear to finish this by the end of the year. I swear I swear I swear.

* * *

"Oh! A traveling warrior! And I see you're an Adept too! You are just the kind of fighter that I've been looking for! Won't you please take me along with you?"

There was no reply from the golden haired boy standing across from him. The Djinn became more dismayed with each passing second as they faced off. Finally it sighed and shifted behind Isaac.

"Well, it will be ok if I follow you, right?"

A barely perceptable nod of the head.

The duo started walking along the road.

"I am a Venus Djinn. My name is Flint."

No reply.

"Hey, are you deaf or something?"

Isaac just continued walking obstinately on. The Djinn puffed up angrily, and dangled itself in front of Isaac's face. Almost immediately it fell off.

Isaac trodded down the path.

"How can eyes be so empty..." Flint whispered to itself, before recovering its jolly spirit. Shaking its head, it proudly announced, "I'm going to help him, whether he likes it or not!" With that, it bounded after the fading figure of Isaac.

* * *

It was the day before that Isaac decided to die. He hadn't really declared it to himself; the feeling just came.

The village had decided to turn him out. He was bad luck, they said. He should've died with the rest of them, they whispered. It's only right for him to go out to recover the stones - after all, he was there. Good riddance that he leave, even better if he died; mutterings could be heard all over the village, silenced only when he came near. When he did come near, a deathly silence descended on the area. It made him want to scream.

Whatever their reasoning, they had pushed him out of the village, equipping him with only a small iron sword. They had disguised it as a procession for a future hero, leaving to reclaim the stones. Only the Healer treated him as such. The villagers had started jeering at him as soon as he'd stepped out of the gates. Dora had treated him as someone who would be dead very shortly. After all, wasn't that what he was? Dead? Or else an outcast, destined to die alone.

Perhaps if they'd bothered to look at him when he was leaving, instead of his back and what he represented, they'd have begun to feel terribly guilty. If they'd seen the flat blue eyes, that were so dark they almost seemed black. If they'd looked at the dejected face instead of the towering shadow. If they'd thought about the smile that hadn't existed for weeks, instead of the burdens that were all placed on his shoulders.

Isaac was already condemned to the role of a hero - untouchable, he carried the world's troubles, sacrificed himself for the sins of others.

An outcast.

* * *

Search for the rod.

_As fond as I am of Ivan, it was his fault that my rod was stolen... And his strange powers will aid him in search of the rod. _

Ivan has strange powers?

Pacing in the village of Vale was the child, Ivan. Small and thin, with wispy blond hair, but wholly unremarkable - except for his eyes. The child had sparkling purple eyes that captivated and unsettled people; it made them feel as if their secrets were being let loose on the world. When angered, the remarkable eyes crackled with lightning. Ivan was angry with himself right now.

_How could I be so stupid? Losing Lord Hammet's Rod!_ He had already gone through the plethora of people in Vale. The possibility that the thieves had gone elsewhere occured to him, but the fear that overlooking someone would cause him to lose the rod forever kept him rooted in the village.

The flapping of a dark blue cloak caught his eye. It belonged to a taller boy with a chicken's nest of blond hair. Someone he hadn't seen before. Ivan strode over to introduce himself.

"Hi, I'm Ivan! I see you're new around here..."

The other boy didn't turn around, didn't even look up, although he did slow down.

Ivan was thoroughly dismayed. Most people, even the really grumpy ones - _Those people in the prison were really stingy! _- at least looked at him, even if only to fix him with a dark glare.

Ivan ran around to the front - mind-reading didn't quite work on the back of someone's head - and focused his energy, casting Mind Read into the boy's - _Oh god, his eyes_ - dark, flat eyes.

Almost immediately he collapsed.

* * *

I know it sucks. I know it's short. The upper part was inspiration. The lower part was trying to finish it - I was never fond of that part of the game. Otherwise it would've been too short - and it still is, but it's longer now... sorta....

SOMEONE VOLUNTEER TO BETA FOR MEEEEEEE!!!!!

You'll also have the pleasure of kicking me royally if I start to slack off. So volunteer!

Ok? Please?

Simply commenting is good too - name something I could improve on.

Baaaa. My muses died from lack of food and attention. They'll revive at some point, I guess.


	6. The Kind of Life in Hollowness

So, um, yeah. Two weeks. Not bad, I guess.

* * *

Silence

Life That Exists In Hollowness

_Almost immediately he collapsed_

Ivan had mustered as much psyenergy as he could - he sensed that Isaac was strong, far stronger than the others. He had naturally assumed Isaac's mind would be warded; after all, Isaac would surely use that strength to protect himself.

Ivan was wrong, dead wrong.

He'd pushed too hard, though at first it seemed like it was going as was expected. Then Isaac did what, Ivan didn't know, Isaac did something, and pulled Ivan into his mind.

Isaac was complete darkness. Ivan couldn't hear, couldn't sense, couldn't even see his hands right in front of him. He didn't even know if he was on ground, he seemed to be floating.

An endless expanse of darkness. It was a labyrinth with no walls, and Ivan didn't know how to get out.

Tentatively he took a step forward; he didn't fall. No more reassured but a little more confident, he started walking. Where, he didn't know. For all that he knew, he could be walking in a circle.

And as he walked, he started to forget. Who was he? What was he supposed to be doing? It didn't matter; it was an endless journey of darkness.

Until he stumbled across a little boy, no more than six, he'd say. There was something in this darkness, and so he struggled to remember.

_I... I am Ivan. I live under... Master Hammet's roof._

_Why am I here?_

He could see the little boy, giving off a faint glow, but not his own hands. A thought surged up in him. _The rod!_

The boy looked up, and his eyes were withdrawn, lost. A flickering of life came into the boy's eyes as he looked up in wonder at Ivan. Trembling fingers reached out, then drew back as if stung.

"Who... are you? No one's come to visit me in a very long time..."

Ivan blinked. "I'm Ivan," he said.

"Hello Ivan." The shrouded look in his eyes receded a little bit more. "Are you here to see me?"

"Sure," was Ivan's reply.

A small smile touched the boy's face. "No one ever wants to see me. I'm glad you do." He tugged on Ivan's shirt -_How can he see my shirt?_. "Do you want to see my favorite place?"

Completely confused by now, but unwilling to let go of this something that he'd finally found, Ivan said, "Ok."

A bright flash of light enveloped them, and the darkness melted away, into an almost blinding light. It was ice, Ivan realized, ice with the sunlight shining strong on it so that it seared people's eyes.

And yet... the people were simply strolling around, seemingly oblivious to both the chilling temperature and the harsh reflection of sunlight. And they were all paler than anything Ivan had seen, almost colorless, with blue hair.

Ivan felt a weight drop on his feet. A contented sigh rose from the boy.

"My favorite place in the world... Somewhere no one can hurt me... no one... can hurt me..."

As if on cue, a blue-haired woman walked over. Ivan was unsure of whether she was an apparition or not, but she didn't seem to be, wrapping her arms around the resting boy at his feet. He reached out a tentative hand.

And passed through bone-chilling air. Yelping, he jerked his hand back and stared aghast as the image flickered and vanished. The boy was startled out of his dreamy sleep and started bawling as he saw "Angel! Angel!" disappear.

Flames began to envelope Ivan, searing him with pain as he had never felt before. The child turned around, eyes blood red, and started walking towards him with slow steady steps; he seemed to grow bigger as he walked, and eventually stood towering over Ivan, with the flames encircling them, creating an arena of sorts.

"You took her away," he hissed. "You made her leave." The flames burned higher. "What did you do?!"

A jet of flame nearly jabbed Ivan in the eye, and he had to scramble out of the way as lightning and jagged spikes met each other. Panicking, he backed towards the flames. The boy advanced menacingly towards him.

"I-I don't know! All I did was try to touch her, and she-she disappear-"

Wrong answer. The child was screaming incoherently at him now, and throwing so many iced and flaming javelins at him Ivan barely even had time to think.

Eventually Ivan saw that he would have no choice, and started to run for his life, into the flames; he could very well be burned, but he would most definitely die if he stayed.

He felt pain as the flames shot up around him. Then anger, as they seemed to taunt him. Finally, despair - nothing could save him in this abode of hell.

As suddenly as they started raging, they disappeared. There was the blond child curled up in a ball, murmuring and crying.

"I want Mia back, I want Mia back..."

Shaken, Ivan decided the best course would be to leave. Of course, it should've been impossible, but something - the barriers of the boy's mind - had weakened enough for Ivan to break out with a pure burst of energy. The boy could come later. Survival was now the first-hand task.

* * *

Ivan awoke to the sound of the horses clopping by him, as well as a dizzy world. His eyes couldn't seem to focus, and started to swirl. 

Finally, after determining that he was well enough to not throw up, he struggled to stand up. An icy hand on his arm pulled him up instead, to face the same blond boy he'd seen earlier, only taller. Much taller. Taller than Ivan by at least a head, which caused him great annoyance.

And fear from the penetrating blue eyes which bored into him. Eyes which were dull but shining, as if almost dead until a spark had revived them.

And astonishment, from the message that Isaac sent him with his mind - _Why can't he just say it?_ - only it wasn't exactly a message. A picture, more like. All the same, Ivan understood what it meant.

"You'll really help me?"

* * *

Mm, to clarify, yes, poor Isaac. I can't do anything except for overdramatize, blah. And will it get better? Well, originally planned, this story wasn't going to, it was gonna be bad. Horrifically bad. Depends, though. I'm not good at happy endings. :/ 


	7. Not Always The First Impression

Silence

_Not Always The First Impression_

  


By Tiger Dauthi

Meh. Comments at bottom.

* * *

"What do you want?"  
"It looks like that weird kid is with him!"  
"I can't stand him! Don't let him near me!"

"They're acting suspicious. Something's not right..." 

Isaac looked at Ivan. Shaking his head, he started to approach the men cowering behind the bedstand. 

"Aaagh! He's coming!" 

The men ran to the other side, and a minor chase ensued. Isaac would just slowly walk towards them, and they'd scurry to the other side. Eventually though one of them got themself stuck in a corner, with Ivan barricading the other exit. 

"W-w-w-w-what do you want?" 

He was truly in fright now. All he could do is stare at Isaac in panic, and his eyes half rolled into his head before he settled down again. He snuck a quick glance at Ivan. 

"Wha-What is this? What is he doing!" 

The other men hiding behind the other bed exclaimed, "He shut his eyes... What's he doin'!" 

Isaac fixed them with a stare, and they shut up. At a tug on his cloak though, he turned around and saw that Ivan had finished. Isaac stalked out of the inn, with Ivan running behind him. 

"Geez, wait up, will ya!" 

Later, crouched in a remote corner of the town, Ivan relayed his report. "It's them all right. I think they took a lot of other things, too. It looks like they're hiding it all somewhere near this inn... But they won't let me near them again." 

"It's all your fault, Isaac, for being so scary!" Ivan punched Isaac good-naturedly in the shoulder. Instantly he cringed when Isaac fixed him with a stare. However, he became relaxed again when he saw, he didn't know, something in his eyes that seemed warm. And Isaac's demeanor was rather complacent. He even punched Ivan back some few minutes later. 

"He-ey! That hurt!" Ivan stuck his tongue out. 

A small smile, contorted with ages of unuse, struggled onto Isaac's face. 

Somewhere, a hairline crack made it's way through the bronze seal covering a door.

* * *

"Uhnn... Uhnn..." 

The man was gradually awakening to the fact that there were two blond boys standing over him. Groggily he looked up into their faces, as the blond with purple eyes asked him how he'd gotten like this. 

"I came into this loft while I was fixing the roof... But I found I couldn't get all the way to the back of the loft... So I was looking into it when WHAM! Someone whacked me in the head from behind! When I came to, I was all tied up." 

By now he was fully awake and stood up, balancing against the wall for support. Looking around he announced, "Strange... I don't remember all these crates being here before." 

Isaac headed off and started prying off the lid of a crate. As he did so, Ivan mused, "Maybe all that stolen stuff is in these crates..." 

Suddenly the slamming of the trap door caused all three of them to spin around instantly. The thieves were standing in the doorway, two of them slightly behind the other, who was obviously their leader. 

"Looks like we've been found out!" 

One of the thieve's glances rested on Ivan. Sneering, he said, "You're pretty persistent for one of Hammet's whelps,kid! Why are you working so hard for Hammet? What's it to you?" As if emboldened by his remarks, the thief stepped forward. "Anyway, Hammet's already been caught by a worse bunch of thieves than us!" He smirked at Ivan. 

"I hear Hammet fled to Lunpa after the eruption." 

At this, the man leaning against the wall, already shaking, started shaking even harder, until it was palpably visible to everyone in the room." 

"Did you say Lunpa? A man with Master Hammet's money shouldn't go anywhere NEAR Lunpa!" 

Worriedly, Ivan glanced at Isaac, the other boy returning his glance after a moment. It was at this moment that the thieves decided to attack. 

"Get 'em!" 

Lunging, the leader thrust out his knife and attempted to stab Isaac. Isaac merely stepped back, and with a lightning quick movement took out his sword. Neatly he knocked out the thief's knife and swiftly he came to rest the tip of his sword on the thief's neck. 

Ivan was having a harder time fending off the other two thieves. They accosted him constantly, and he was having trouble blocking their small daggers with his wooden staff. _Before long I'll have to get a new one..._ Bemoaning his misfortune, he cast Whirlwind, and the thieves stepped back in horror and amazement as a miniature tornado engulfed them and threw them against the wall. 

Ivan was on them in a second before they could recover, thwacking them as hard as he could with his wooden staff. They got up quickly though, and seemed ready to go at it when their attention was diverted by the sight of their frozen leader. One of them rushed to help while the other returned his attention to Ivan. He was too slow though, as Ivan gave him a resounding hit on his head that knocked him out before he could react. 

The other thief leaped for Isaac, causing him to be momentarily distracted from the leader, which gave him just enough time to jump for the knife embedded in the nearby wall. Calmly Isaac deflected the blade that slashed at him and hit the minor thief with the flat of his blade, promptly knocking him out. With the other he pointed to the leader, who spun around and tried his best to fight back, only to be hit from behind by another one of Ivan's Whirlwinds. The battle altogether took the time for the terrified townsperson to sink to his knees from his standing position. 

Shortly after they came to (Ivan unfortunately didn't have very much power in his hits, and Isaac had been concentrating more on not killing something than properly knocking someone out) 

"They... They got us..." Dejectly, he looked at the ground. Another thief piped up. 

"Actually, for a second there, I thought we were goners..." He looked at Isaac reverently and fearfully. 

Still in shock, the townsperson was murmuring to himself, "Wow! We won!" As if he had suddenly attained enlightenment, he stood up and said, "I... I'll get the mayor!" He rushed out of the room, which left Ivan and Isaac to muse over the situation. 

"After the trouble we went to,stealing all this stuff..."  
"Sheesh! I told you... I told you we should have skipped town..." 

As the thieves argued amongst themselves, Ivan glanced at the crates and said, "If you give me Master Hammet's rod, I'll head to Lunpa now." 

Isaac did not reply, lost in his thoughts. Exasperated by the silence, Ivan went up and waved a hand in front of Isaac's face. When this failed to elicit any response, he backed up and studied Isaac. 

Isaac, while quite handsome, really didn't seem to be the kind to break hearts. In fact, if anything, he looked like a child who had his heart broken repeatedly. His face was expressionless staring at the ground, but the cast-down blue eyes and the way his hair fell in a crazy mop around him made him seem so piteous that Ivan could not help but feel guilty for leaving him - he couldn't remember the cold silence Isaac greeted with everyone, nor could he recall the terror upon seeing him in his mind as a monster. 

Ivan's thoughts were interrupted when the man from before stumbled in, gasping, "These are the thieves, Mayor..." 

The mayor walked with the slow steps of one who had authority and was annoyed. Very annoyed. "What you did was horrid. Stealing? In the middle of a disaster!" 

The leader apparently thought that the mayor was in err, as he retorted, "Hey, you're the ones who left all your doors open! You were practically begging us to - OUCH!" The man had kicked him fiercely. 

"Sorry... I couldn't help myself..." 

_He wasn't helping much before..._ Sighing to himself, Ivan resumed watching the exchange of words as the mayor decided on a sentence for the thieves. 

"What should we do with them?" The man was almost tugging on the mayor's sleeves, completely ready to obey the mayor's will, whatever it might have been. 

"We're going to lock them up for a long,long time." 

As if cheered by this prospect, the man bounded over to the thieves and kicked them again. "Hey, wake up! Let's go – get up! Get up!" 

When the thieves refused to budge, he looked helplessly at the pair. "Hey, can you help me tie them up?" 

Ivan almost bristled at the thought of helping such a man, but since Isaac strode over, he supposed he might as well help. After all, he didn't want to be associated with that kind of person. 

_Such a sniveling coward!_ In his indignation he accidently tied the rope too tightly, causing the thieves to yelp. 

As they were dragged away the leader glared at him. "Hey, you! Isaac, right? I won't forget this!" 

They'd gotten the wrong name. Isaac lifted his head and looked at the leader readily. Whitening, he hurriedly urged his cronies to move faster and hobbled out of there as quickly as he could. 

"Take them away!" The mayor called, seeming to need closure. Then, turning to face the two, he said, "Thanks for catching the thieves! You have our sincerest gratitude." 

The man from before popped up behind the mayor with his own compliment. "Really, you were a big help!" 

"Let's take a look at what they stole." 

An assortment of items fell out as Isaac pried them all open, among them Hammet's Rod. Clutching the item to his chest, Ivan danced around, happy that his journey was over. 

Until he spun around and caught sight of Isaac. He was walking out the door without a backwards glance as the mayor and the man marveled and fumed over the stolen treasure. 

_I need to thank him!_ He ran after Isaac, only dimly hearing the mayor yell at them, "Thank you both. You have my deepest gratitude! Before you leave town, please come and see me. I have something for you!" 

Rushing down from the ladder, he very nearly crashed into Isaac when he stopped at the gate out of Vault. A tumult of syllables rushed out of his mouth, as he tried to formulate the words Thank you. 

A hand on his head shut him up, (he hated it whenever anyone put their hand on his head because it only served to remind him how short he was) as Isaac pointed towards the direction of Lunpa. 

Sighing, he looked at the rod still clutched in his hands. He didn't hear Isaac move away though, so after a moment he lifted his head to face Isaac's pointed stare. Feeling as if Isaac wanted an explanation, he said morosely, "I just want to rescue Master Hammet... That's all... But I couldn't ask you to help me. Not after what you've done for me already." _And I don't think you would help me if I asked you to anyway..._

Nodding, Isaac touched his shoulder, then walked off on the cobbled path, in the opposite direction of Lunpa. _What's he searching for anyway?_ Ivan was almost tempted to ask, but Isaac obviously wouldn't answer, so all he did was yell after him, "Good luck! Thank you for all your help!" 

All he got in reply was a nod.

* * *

I have just realized how very fickle I am. Very very fickle. My interest waned in this fic (all my fics actually, though I only have two I'm working on right now) so suddenly it was almost kinda scary. Reason was cause I watched Noir, and so I was almost completely engrossed in it. I wish I'd spaced out the 26 eps more though, because it's finished so... suddenly. Like my attention span, ne:p 

The chapters are therefor unregulated, as in an indeterminate amount of time will occur until the next one is updated. I will continue to try to keep it to a max of two weeks, although that will in all probability fail. I still promise to finish the story before next year rolls around... 

Thanks for your time! 


	8. The Shape of Truth

Silence

_By Tiger Dauthi_

Chapter 8: The Shape of Truth

This is one of my better chapters, I'd say.

* * *

A frantic soldier was pushing his way past the guards at the gate. Even when he was apprehended, he continued to struggle against the guards, yelling at the top of his lungs about a strange teenager and monsters of the earth. 

When Master McCoy finally came out, the soldier had gone limp, but upon a gentle shake by McCoy jumped up again. When asked what he'd rushed here for the soldier babbled incomprehensibly for several moments before a guard impatiently knocked him on the head. Senses cleared, the soldier said, "A blond teenager came and forced all of us out of his way. His eyes were b-b-burning and he made the earth shake under u-us..."

The soldier trailed off, reliving his impossible experience. It seemed as if the terror was too much for him, for he collapsed to the ground, muttering one last thing before his eyes rolled into his head.

"...Kolima Forest..."

Everyone around him gasped, and slowly swiveled around to look at each other, hoping to find some shred of reassurance. This boy was either a friend or a foe, and he seemed more likely a foe, judging by his description. The disaster they thought was cursed onto them was finally coming around.

And in some ways, it was.

* * *

_So you are the one to save me._

The old tree smiled sadly. Even as he died inside and his very roots were consumed by waves of bitterness and disease, he could not help but feel a pang for the young boy, no man, no... As another brittle branch snapped off and collapsed through his now-scarce canopy of leaves, he glanced at his brethren (his **dead** brethren) and settled on a word.

_Good luck, demon-child..._

Isaac glanced up, poised at the entrance into the tree. Blue eyes shifted from thought to thought, like fog on a glass mirror.

_Not a child, but an adult._ For a child could not have such dark eyes. _And so soon..._

Tret closed his eyes, and succumbed to the darkness festering within him.

* * *

Blood streamed down Isaac's cheek in little rivulets. His breath came out in small gasps. Sweat stained the tunic clinging loosely onto him. 

He lunged forward, feinting to the left, then easily jumped to the right when a vine tendril shot toward him. Landing in a half-crouch, he leaped toward the tree, dodging the spike that emerged from a sudden crack that'd appeared where Isaac had been standing.

He plunged his sword deep into the forehead of Tret, burying it to its hilt. The gnarled tree gave an inarticulate cry as the dark purple glow formed into a mist and floated away.

Isaac leaned against a wall, coughing and rasping. After a moment, he staggered over to the face. Heaving, he pulled out the sword, landing on his butt from the extra force he'd exerted.

Tret slowly opened his eyes, himself once again. Dazedly, his eyes focused on the man sitting in front of him.

_Hello, Isaac._

Startled, Isaac looked up at him in astonishment.

_How do I know your name? Trees are old, Isaac, very old... so very old..._

A slight touch on Tret's face made him come out of his reverie. Looking into the crystal-like blue eyes, Tret spoke sharply.

_What is truth?_

An assortment of emotions passed over Isaac's face. Surprise, then a small bit of anger, wonder, and finally a blank look.

_Truth is nothing._

Isaac looked taken aback. Images started invading his head. Of humans coming into the forest and hacking down all the trees, of people calling Tret and the forest cursed when it tried to protect itself, of hailing anyone and everyone to go and cut down the trees to weaken the curse, (and sending them to almost-certain doom) of death, destruction, the dizzying smell of smoke billowing up from embers, the collective wail of dying trees. He saw the desperation of the forest, the final bid to a side that they'd never wanted to see again, the -

The sound echoed all through the walls of the tree when Isaac clapped his hands to his ears, sinking to his knees. He was shaking his head furiously, sweat dripping from his brow.

After what seemed an eternity, Isaac staggered to his feet. Swaying, he looked Tret in the eye.

Fear, bewilderment, horror, the slightest bit of understanding. Tret searched Isaac's eyes for more. Not finding what he was looking for though, he sighed.

_I was wrong to call you an adult. You're just like the others..._

Tret regarded him sadly.

_I suppose, in the end, I can only wish you the best of luck..._

The amber sap oozing out of the gash on his head had reached the bottom of his face, making it seem like he was crying.

The first rays of light were beginning to stream through the ceiling of leaves when Tret finally closed his troubled eyes and slept peacefully.

* * *

News traveled quickly in Bilibin, even if no one was sure how the information got there in the first place. 

Perhaps the person who'd spread the rumors had seen the blond teen limping back from afar and had just assumed, for no one had ever come back from the forest alive.

At any rate, a procession of villagers had gathered to greet the young hero, faces alight with either awe, concern, or consternation. Girls glanced at him appreciatively; the cut on his face only served to emphasize the perfection of his face, and his limp could be cured in no time.

Everyone hushed up as he stepped through the gate, and looked around at the villagers. Sure, his eyes didn't really seem normal, being blue and yet glowing with a sort of fire, but they were definitely beautiful, and it didn't really matter anyway; the people who had been turned into trees had just as suddenly turned back to people, and were sprinting up to him even now, wanting to give their congratulations.

Isaac collapsed as soon as the first one reached him.

* * *

A clink of china against wood woke Isaac, and he found himself staring into the eyes of one of the villagers, a girl of about 15 or so, with sandy brown hair and the same color eyes. Upon seeing his gaze on her, she squeaked and turned bright red, then rushed out of the room. 

A couple minutes later, Isaac stumbled out of the room, fully dressed in his clean clothes and sparkling armor - someone had given them a thoroughly good scrubbing while he was out - and proceeded to seat himself at one of the tables that was close to the menu hanging on the wall.

A waiter who had originally been taking orders for another couple promptly left them and asked Isaac in an excited voice what he'd like.

Isaac pointed to the cheapest item on the menu, eggs and ham. The waiter paused.

"It's alright you know. Don't have to order anything cheap, have a big breakfast! Everything's on the house!"

The waiter glanced over at the innkeeper, who nodded his assent. Isaac just shook his head no.

"Alright then, whatever you say..."

Almost immediately, his eggs and ham came, along with three pieces of toast and a cup of orange juice. A person sitting at a table in the corner was gesturing to a waitress.

"Hey, my breakfast should be done by now, shouldn't it?"

"Of course, sir, but you see, we decided that the young man over there should get first dibs, seeing as he's the hero..."

Two pairs of eyes stared at him for a moment, and Isaac heard the man say, "Well, that's alright then. Hurry up though, please."

Isaac was even more confused when he walked outside and was smothered immediately by people, who were firing all sorts of questions at him.

"Where are you from?"  
"What's your name?"  
"Were you scared?"  
"Why'd you do it?"  
"Will you go out with me?"  
"How'd you kill that bastard?"

Isaac blinked. Behind him hung on the wall of the inn was a notice which said, "A night in the hero's room! Starting at only 1000 gil!" There was a line of people extending from the door of the inn. (Most of them were girls and women)

The crowd of people suddenly split to reveal a plump man at the end.

"Why, what a wee lad!"

Amused, the man nudged the soldier standing to his left good-naturedly.

"And yeh said he was the fiercest demon yeh'd ever seen!"

Ashamed, the soldier hung his head and muttered, "Well, he seemed scary at the time..."

Laughing, the man walked up to Isaac, and gripped Isaac's limp hand firmly, shaking it hard.

"Glad tae meet yeh, young sir. Yeh've got some true hero blood in yeh, lad, defeating that monster like yeh did. And barely a scratch too! Mah name's McCoy, noble of this village. Come, we must discuss all the details, give yeh yeh proper due. Of course, many rewards will be given. 10,000, nay, 100,000 gil, the best armor and weapons we can afford, and half the land of that accursed Kolima, once we've resumed clearing it out. No one will hurt yeh with yeh power, and we'll always come to yeh help if you need it. What yeh say, lad?"

He pounded the boy on the back happily, fully expecting him to take the reward. The crowd held their breaths, waiting to cheer the second he accepted.

"...kill that bastard..."  
"...the fiercest demon you'd ever seen..."  
"...accursed Kolima..."

He could feel the trees crying, mourning the loss of their leader. Somewhere inside he felt it too, as the executioner.

_Truth is nothing._

Turning on his heel, he strode out of the village, leaving the people and McCoy bewildered.

A sudden gust of wind blew through the place, bringing on it the rank smell of smoke, fire and dead things, but if Isaac noticed, he took no heed. He plodded on the route to the lighthouse, leaving the transformed trees behind him.

* * *

oO I liked this chapter. What has the world come to! Me, liking something? It's prolly because I spent more time on it, even though it's so short. 

Next chapter Isaac gets to meet Mia! w00t!

**Princess Viv:** Well, I hoped you liked this chapter too! shakes a stick at you You better:p

**Kodoku:** Okay, well the update was kind of slow, but it's only gone three days over two weeks... Hey, I updated pretty quickly this time! oO

Well, until next time then!


	9. Breaking the Ice

Silence

Chapter 9  
Breaking the Ice  
_By Tiger Dauthi_

I've written as much gooey Mia and Isaac in order to try to redeem myself. And there will be more the next chapter… So can you please forgive me? Please please please? ;-;

* * *

"Miiiiiiaaa!"

The voice echoed through the thin white walls. A girl of about sixteen was sitting on a pinewood stool, hands spread out over a woolen blue blanket. A small lump in the blanket indicated that a person lay under it, though thin and frail.

A young child with a map of brown hair rushed in, shoes slapping against the dirt floor. Water dripped from his body, and when he gestured wildly it flew everywhere.

"Mia! Mia! There's a man who's collapsed at the entrance!"

The teengaer rose up, startled.

"How is he?" she asked quickly.

The child trembled.

"I don't know, but he looked blueish!"

The wooden stool toppled over in Mia's rush to get to the door. "Take care of Elder Strr, okay?" she called out behind her back to the boy, who nodded vigorously.

A second later, all that could be seen was the swinging door, creaking with each revolution.

* * *

The first thing Isaac did was wiggle his fingers. They seemed to be wrapped tightly in some sort of gauze, and itched horribly.

He tried to sit up, eyes still squeezed shut, but footsteps clattered across the ground and a hand pushed him down.

"You haven't healed properly yet!" A light feminine voice told him sternly.

The hand moved to his forehead.

"And you still have a fever!"

Isaac cracked open his eyes to see who was talking, but shut them immediately again when a raging headache accosted him. He groaned.

A long period, filled with strenous breathing, passed before further movement came from the room. A wooden stool scratched against the ground as the person stood up, preparing to leave. Isaac's hands shot out in the blind panic of being left alone, and found a dainty hand which he gripped hard.

The person wrested her hand out of his crushing grip, but then clasped his fist with both hands. Isaac felt a light touch on his forehead as she kissed it.

"Don't worry, I'll be back in about five minutes. If you need anything, just call my name, okay? It's Mia."

Isaac's eyes shot open at this, and he kept his eyes open even though the pain rushed into his head and made his vision swim. A faint outline of a figure in blue showed up in his blurred vision, surrounded by a dim halo.

The person could be anyone, of course. Perhaps the desolate iceland he'd wandered into was filled with people who had blue hair. But the moment Isaac set his eyes on her, he was sure.

It was her.

"Mia..."

The word came out of him unbidden. It was so soft that even he almost didn't hear it, and the voice was raspy from more than a decade of disuse. Isaac dropped his head into the pillow, exhausted, out before he realized he'd spoken.

Somewhere, a bronze seal rumbled. A crack split it wide open, and it tremored for a bit. Then it seemed to groan loudly. A moment later it shattered to thousands of metal pieces.

The first seal was broken.

* * *

Mia regarded the blond teen before her. The icicles his hair had frozen into had melted, and the fine yellow threads spread out around him, splayed out to give the appearance of a lion's mane.

_He's handsome._

_Alex was prettier._

Mia winced as she thought of the long-haired man who'd promised her empty promises, then left abruptly for gods-know-what, leaving her nothing. She harbored no anger at him, just hope that he would find what he was searching for, pity for his eternal unrest, and a sort of wistfulness for the days gone by.

And love, of course.

She cast her eyes away from the snoozing patient in an attempt to push out the melancholy thoughts that invaded her mind, but no matter what she did, her eyes would travel their way back to the boy's face.

Mia's face scrunched up as she tried to recall the boy's name. Any passerby would've been unable to describe it as anything but cute. Her nose wrinkled a tiny bit, and her light blue eyebrows knotted together as she rested her chin on her hands.

_Oh, right._ The guy had obviously been too weak to tell her what his name was - he hadn't even been able to open his eyes. Mia sat back and sighed softly, knocking herself lightly on the head. She chuckled to herself.

The chuckling stopped abruptly as she froze, horrified at where her hand had traveled. It was now resting on the boy's cheek, pale skin against even paler skin. She marveled a bit at how nice it looked like that, but quickly withdrew her hand as if burned. She muttere incoherently to herself as she started fleeing out of the burgundy room, shaking her head.

A scream behind her caused her to pause and spin around. The patient's needs were more important than her own. She reached the edge of his bed just as the boy started arching and writhing, screaming insensibly.

Only she could decipher faintly what he was saying - "Mia! Mia! Miaaaaaa!"

Mia froze, perched at the head with a wet towel in her hand. The boy's eyes shot open, and glazed ice blue eyes stared back at her own. The yelling stopped, and the guy smiled softly for a moment.

"Mia..."

His hand rose up to touch her cheek, resting in the same manner as hers had only a few minutes before. His eyes were still unfocused though, causing Mia to wonder whether he was really seeing her.

The guy's fingertips barely grazed her cheek before they fell and splashed into the basin of cold water at the head of the bed. His eyes had closed again, and apparently he was unconcious.

Trembling, Mia reached out a hand to determine his temperature. Her eyes widened, and she stood there, frozen in shock for a few moments. Quickly she ran some glowing spells over him and gave him a full diagnosis. Finally she sat back, breathing heavily and staring at him in mute wonder.

His fever had gone down, his wounds had healed almost perfectly - in fact, he seemed in almost perfect shape.

Shaking her head, Mia walked out of the room.

* * *

Isaac thought it was rather funny, really. Now that he'd gotten better, they'd moved him to a soft fluffy goose-feather mattress; originally he'd gotten a cold hard lump that was only a little bit better than a rock.

A knock against wood brought his attention to the blue-haired girl who stood in the doorway. They stared at each other, the awkward silence stretching in between them.

"What's your name?"

Isaac thought of how to get himself a sheet of parchment, but he surprised himself by replying easily, "Isaac."

_Did I just... talk?_

Mia was smiling at him, he realized, and he flushed. _This must be a dream._

But it wasn't, for she strode over in graceful steps and placed her hand on his forehead. He felt the cool fingers slightly frosted by the cold air outside, tapping lightly on his face.

"You seem well," Mia remarked.

He stayed silent, shock still written all over his face.

Mia raised an eyebrow at him, but didn't ask about it. Instead she fussed over him, patting him down and muttering to herself. Isaac felt his face begin to flush as she continued touching his chest, but he willed himself to stay still. At length Mia paused for a second, straightening back up, and he took this opportunity to fling his legs out of bed, ignoring Mia's worried protests.

A painful crash onto the floor told him he should've listened to Mia. His legs felt like they were on fire and his kneecap jutted out of his skin. The muscles had really atrophied, and he winced as pain shot up his entire body. The fact that he was feeling tired after only this brief encounter dismayed him even more.

Arms encircled him from behind, and he whipped around on instinct, ready to assault the assailer. The mere effort of reacting made him unable to do much more than feebly hit Mia though, and he was thankful for that, however angry he was at his state of health.

"I told you so," her condensending voice said to him sternly in his ear. Mia's hot breath tickled on his ear, and Isaac quickly felt himself becoming flushed again, wondering why the girl made him so uncomfortable. Isaac was dragged up onto the white linen sheets, and Mia drew the covers of the blanket over his thin frame, her face scowling yet worried.

_She's worried for me._ No one had ever worried for him except his mother.

"Rest," she said softly. Isaac pouted at that, which caused Mia to grin at his cute face. He really did look like a child, face puckered up and eyes filled with innocence. His face was too thin and a dark glimmer in his eyes hinted at a not-so-innocent past, but if Mia ignored that, the soft golden hair framing his face really did make him look like a child.

"Awww, does ickle Isaac need a goodnight kiss?"

Isaac instantly stopped his pouting, his face turning a bright red instead. He averted his face, and Mia realized what she'd just said. Horrified, she quickly stammered, "I was just joking, j-j-joking." Her cheeks burning, she cast her face down, and mumbled, "I'll just leave now, ok?"

She turned around, about to leave, but heard Isaac stutter softly, "I-I-I wouldn't m-mind."

Mia froze, unsure of what to do. On the one hand, he seemed kind and entirely unlike the type of person to take advantage... on the other hand he was a man, and...

_Alex._

Mia rose abruptly and almost ran out of the room.

* * *

Mia didn't come to visit Isaac for days. During this time Isaac thought incessantly about her, worried that he had offended her and that he wouldn't be welcome here anymore. Meanwhile he was tended to by a little pig-tailed girl who called herself Jo and caused him to smile when she tried to adopt a stern tone with him.

Being still a child, she didn't think of Isaac as too strange when his words slurred and he mispronounced things, a thing Isaac was thankful for.

A chilling gust suddenly rushed in, nipping at his toes as he scrambled to cover his wool blanket over his exposed feet.

A tiny cough brought his attention back to the person who had entered the room.

Mia was standing there, with snow flakes peppering her cerulean hair. Isaac's breath hitched for a moment, and he felt himself going red for reasons he couldn't explain.

Her head was bowed down low, and her eyes flitted from side to side as she mumbled out something incomprehensible.

"Er, I'm sorry?" Isaac asked.

Mia sighed and threw her head back, raking a hand through mussed up blue hair.

"I-I don't know why it's so hard." She raised her eyes and stared directly at Isaac with such an intensity that Isaac felt the need to avert his own eyes.

"Look, I'm just, I'm sorry, alright?"

Isaac blinked.

"What?"

"You know, the other day, when I ran out of the room? I'm sorry, ok?"

An image of Mia leaning closer and closer to him popped up in his head, and he felt his cheeks flame. Ashamed of himself he looked to the side and mumbled, "Er, yeah. It's alright. Wasn't nothing big."

There was a sudden cooling sensation on his forehead, and his eyes popped open in surprise. Mia had rushed over and was currently gauging his temperature, opening his mouth, lowering her face nearer...

With a cry Isaac scrambled back from her. The pained look on Mia's face made him instantly regret it, but he couldn't be too close to her. When she was close, with her pretty sky blue colored eyes and hair that smelled like strawberry despite the bitter outdoors, Isaac couldn't see straight, much less think straight.

An awkward silence stretched for what seemed like hours after the debacle. Finally Isaac inched closer to Mia again, and said quietly, "I'm sorry. Th-that was rude of me."

His eyes were stilled averted, and Mia couldn't help but be relieved at that fact. When he focused his ice clear eyes on her, Mia felt a warmth within her belly that made her feel immensely uncomfortable.

"It's alright-" she started.

Isaac cut her off, hurriedly saying, "No, no, I shouldn't have done that. I am really, really sorry."

The terrified expression on his face was so cute that Mia couldn't help but chuckle a little, but her throat closed up again as his gaze focused on her again. As their eyes made contact, Mia wondered how his eyes could be so clear and yet so dark at the same time, deep blue orbs that were electrifying in their gaze.

After a moment she couldn't stand looking at him anymore, and she broke off eye contact, saying in a too-cheerful voice, "Let's see if you can walk now, Isaac!"

Isaac's face (she could've sworn it had dimmed since she'd stopped looking) brightened up considerably, and he exclaimed in a happy child-like voice, "Ooh, I can get out of bed!"

With a flourish, he attempted to get out of bed fancily, but when he sprung from his back he overbalanced and collapsed on the floor.

Mia was at his side in a moment, cradling him in his lap, anxiety written all over his face.

A sudden strange urge struck him and he grinned goofily for the first time, then pushed himself to his feet.

"See? Alright."

Mia looked at him strangely, but the thoroughly disheveled look he had coupled with the idiotic smile plastered on his face had her grinning herself.

"All righty then," she said. "Last checkup, and then you're good to go." Her smile faltered a little bit as she said this, but it was imperceptible to all but the most observant.

If nothing else Isaac was most definitely observant from all the time he'd spent in silence, but he said nothing.

Mia patted him from top to bottom, checked his eyes and mouth and heartbeat, then cheerily said, "Seems you're perfectly fine!" Then clearing her throat, she asked, an awkward stilt in her voice, "Would you, ah, like to have a tour around the village?"

Isaac felt himself go red again, a funny feeling in his stomach. "S-sure."

Mia smiled bashfully.

"Ok then, get dressed, and I'll see you in a bit."

She bounded out of the room, and Isaac sat down heavily on his bed. Things had changed so radically. But then, Isaac was used to radical things in his life. And this was definitely one of the better changes.

His life was finally looking up.

* * *

Ok, this chapter basically has no closure, but I had to end it here because if I dragged it on any longer, it would be uninspired and ridiculously long. My original idea was to cram the Mia/Isaac meeting into one chapter, with them continuing on, but then I spent an enormous amount of time away(heh, 3 months... ) and so I tried to write more about them to compensate... Except that didn't work too well. So what was originally one chapter has been split into two, with a huge amount of Mia/Isaac in each. Okie dokie. Pweese don't kill me for having to wait so long! ;-;

BTW, how would you feel about me changing my penname to Dauthi? There's really no reason, but I have a different sn for IM, for fanfiction, and for regular sn's. Therefore I feel the need for consistency.

Anyway...

**Princess Viv:** Yeah, I guess it was kind of sudden. I'm not very good at battle scenes...

**The Assassin:** Oh, you definitely will.

**LilTyphoon:** Everyone loves Isaac. Everyone must love Isaac. Heh.

**And So I Said:** And she'll take up the next chapter too. (and all the ones after that, but these two really concentrate on them)

**Tears of a Raven:** I find that as I try to continue with multi-chapter stories, my writing gets more and more stagnant and uninspired. Same thing happened with Dark Heart. I suppose I'll get better with time.

**Kodoku: **PLUMP! Heh. Thanks for the review!

**Earthquake**: This thing spans for maybe 5 or 6 more chapters. Thanks for the review!

**Black Demon567:** Thanks!

**Sorceress Sakura:** Yes! Isaac plushies! huggles

**Servant of GOD:** o.o I feel honored that you read my story. Thanks for your review!


	10. Ice and Fire

_**Silence**_

Sorry. Its been like another month and a half since the last update. Camp happened, which took off three weeks, and then it took a while writing this. Did a lot though, so I hope its alright. Updates should be coming faster now, as this has become a real priority, there only being 3 or 4 months until the end of the year. Must finish fic before then...

* * *

_**Chapter 10: Ice and Fire**_

"So, what do you think of this carving?"

"Errr, it's very beautiful," Isaac said, staring listlessly at the ice carving with a hint of boredom in his eyes. For sure, it was definitely beautiful, a translucent unicorn with every single hair in his mane detailed and intricate, but they'd been going through a gallery of them for at least an hour. At the beginning Isaac had been enthralled with them and stopped to marvel at every single one, examining them with the awe of a child who'd just been exposed to a new world (and in all respects he really was one) and trying to keep count of how many statues were in that massive cavern, but after two hundred and seventeen he gave up, his interest in the properties of ice having dropped drastically.

He slid an obligatory glance as they walked by yet another dragon (though this one had wings and was falling) before continuing to stare at the back of Mia's head as if there was some hypnotic element there that could simply not make his gaze focus on something else.

He was thinking about how the soft blue hair Mia had suited her and this place perfectly. She looked like a goddess strutting to her pedestal in the center of an ice palace, although they'd passed the center long ago, marked with two gargantuan carvings, one of them an eerie two-headed dragon, and one of them... well, words couldn't describe it quite accurately.

It had spikes trailing down its back, and wings protruding from massive disfigured shoulder blades. There were holes in those ice wings, icicles in them making it seem like the holes were eating away at the wings like maggots devour a human body. But what were most terrifying were its eyes - carved into clear translucent ice yet seeming glowing an eerie red once one stopped looking at it directly.

"Isaac, are you listening to me?"

Mia had her hands on her hips, cocking her head to the side in an annoyed stance, although her face betrayed her posture with the upwards quirk tugging on her lips.

Isaac turned red and stuttered out an incomprehensible excuse, but Mia just flapped wtih one hand, saying, "This cave is boring anyway."

He tried to tell her that the ice carvings were very interesting indeed, there were just too many of them, but Mia continued, saying, "The sculptures are very beautiful and all, but remembering all the stories about them and reciting them every time someone comes through? Eugh!" At the last word her face twisted into a clown-like expression, causing Isaac to laugh.

Mia grinned, then said, "Well, since you aren't listening to me and I don't want to talk about these ice carvings some more anyway, how about we just get out of here?"

Isaac nodded enthusiastically. "Un!"

Suddenly Mia took off, hair flying behind her, yelling, "Bet you can't reach the end before I do!"

Taking up this challenge, Isaac raced down the path as well, but promptly slid and cracked his body against the ground.

Laughter reverberated all down the imperious glacial palace, even as a giant mystical figure glowed briefly and pulsed in the center.

Mia won very obviously, but the margin was a little smaller than expected. Still, she wasted no time gloating about it to Isaac, who took it in stride, used to being humbled, though not in this friendly kind of teasing way.

They were still trotting at a brisk pace on the pebbled path back to the village when Mia stopped abruptly and frowned. Isaac glanced around confusedly, not feeling the disturbance in the air; he ran after Mia when she suddenly took off on another, smaller path, snow crunching beneath their feet.

He was about to ask what was distressing Mia so when she yelled, "Someone else has entered the lighthouse!"

Isaac froze at the entrance even as Mia rushed inside, motioning for him to follow.

He'd forgotten.

Forgotten what he really was, even though no one knew him here and therefore it was like having a new, fresh start with people who actually had a kind word for him and offered him shelter and care. Forgotten the mission that was thrown upon him, his burden to redeem him. Forgotten, if only for a moment, the tendrils of darkness that wrapped themselves around him, tucked snugly into the contours of his body.

He looked up, trying to see through the frosty air the top of the stone lighthouse, seeing no light and heaving a relieved and bitter sigh. When Mia called out to him, "Isaac, hurry up!" he shrugged off the doubts clustering around him and caught up to her, steps echoing across the smooth tiles.

He stopped beside a dismayed Mia, who was staring at the granite statue rested firmly in front of the entrance. Deep scratch marks on the floor to the right of it showed that it had been moved from its original resting place.

"This statue is blocking the way..." she muttered, hands clenched into tight fists around her.

Isaac studied the structure for a moment, then stepped forward and closed his eyes, letting the psyenergy massed inside him to flow out and form into a giant white hand, (personally he thought it'd always been rather silly that it had to be a white hand, it looked like the dainty gloves that people wore when they wanted others to know just how rich and snobby they were) which shoved the statue back to its original place, thus opening the previously blocked hallway.

He turned to smile at Mia, but stopped and cursed softly to himself at her expression of utter amazement. This wasn't Vale. Psyenergy wasn't known here. A dark look coming over his face, he took a step back and was prepared to take off when a soft touch on his arm froze him in his place.

"Did you do that?" Mia murmured.

Isaac nodded his head, "Yes," his mouth set into a grim line and his face hard.

"I knew it... I saw a ghostly force pushing it!"

Isaac spun around to face her in amazement.

"Y-you can see it? You can see psyenergy?"

"Psyenergy... Is that what you call that power?"

Dumbly Isaac nodded. Mia continued, "It's similar to my healing power Ply, which I used on you. It's a special power handed down to members of the Mercury Clan,  
from generation to generation, generated through meditation. It was once much stronger..."

Suddenly the tower gave off an ominous rumble, a few bits of debris floating from the ceiling after the dust and motions subsided. Mia shook her head, not having time to ask anymore questions, and hurried through the entrance, followed by a curious and worried Isaac.

A monster jumped out in front of Mia, blue and scaly, causing her to emit a small shriek. Quickly Isaac stepped in front of her and calmly brought his sword down, cracking it upon the lizard-like monster's skull. It stepped back, hissing, saliva dripping from its glistening white fangs, before springing off its hind legs in a frenzied attack. Isaac side-stepped its assault and then sliced at the creature again, sword slicing cleanly through its head this time.

The monster's blue blood splattered all over him, he glanced at Mia, ashamed at the horrific display, (though it had been very necessary) then attended to a small scratch the lizard had left on him, waiting for her reaction.

Mia rushed over and laid her hands down over Isaac's own, and he felt a brief mystical surge of power; he was floating, soaring through the sky, the atmosphere beautiful and great. When the warmth receded he found pale smooth skin where blood used to be oozing out of it. Mia breathed a small sigh of relief and exclaimed, "You've saved me again, haven't you!"

She looked around and said, "Only those of the Mercury clan are permitted to enter this place. I would've left you here and told you to go back to the village to warn everyone if there'd been trouble. However, I sense something special about you." At this she flashed him a huge smile, and unconsciously Isaac felt himself grinning back, the death smell filling the room forgotten.

"I feel that I can trust you..."

She tugged on his arm now, then began walking towards the top of the lighthouse, eyes purposeful and stride confident.

Along the way they encountered an ever-increasing number of monsters, some of which they hid from and some of which they fought as a way to keep their senses honed. Isaac never really got tired because of Mia's constant healing, so they didn't have to worry about being overwhelmed by monsters unless Mia was too depleted of energy or a surprise attack took them down. Together they were an astounding team, Isaac positively glowing in Mia's aura and striking down the monsters in a deadly whirl, Mia protected and projecting comforting rays, the core that held Isaac in and alive.

When a mouse-like creature jumped in front of them Isaac was on it in an instant, blade snaking quick and weakening wounds like a rapier, even though it was not designed to be one. The monster got progressively slower and slower from the blood loss and pain until it finally slowed enough so that Isaac ran it through with one powerful stab.

He panted, the exertion being a decent amount, but what disturbed him more was the memory fighting it had triggered.

He ran a hand through the wet blond hair plastered to his forehead, eyes squeezed shut.

Garet. Jenna. Kraden. Everyone. He'd completely forgotten about them. The fact that this was a lighthouse continued to lurk in his mind, but he'd set it back as he set about demolishing the monsters, basking in the presence of a grateful Mia.

Garet and Jenna had been the only people to not care about his predicament, to treat him as a normal person. And he'd paid them back by living while they died, by putting aside the mission that would save their family and the people they cared about, by putting someone he hadn't been with as long and didn't know as well closer to his heart.

A hand on his shoulder caused him to flick his glance up, directly into concerned sky blue eyes. He sighed and the corners of his mouth quirked up into an involuntary smile. He couldn't help it. Mia showed him so much unlimitless kindness, so much soft mystery...

Hadn't she said something about healing powers?

"Mia?" he asked softly.

"Yeah?"

"How much stronger was Ply before?"

"I don't know. People say it was very strong though, that it could heal completely mangled people and leave their skin so smooth it was like they'd been pampered their whole life and never had to endure a scratch or something."

"...could it bring people back from the dead?"

Mia started, a storm beginning to brew in her eyes, and frowned.

"Like I said, I don't know. But why do you ask?"

"J-just curious, I guess."

Isaac felt warm arms wrap around him, and blushed as Mia laid her head on his shoulder.

"People die. No one likes it when it happens to their close friends, but people die, and that's just how life goes. And if they died, who is it for you to say they should be brought back? Things happen for a reason. No matter how much you despise the deaths of people close to you, eventually you'll have to get over it, meet new people... let new people into your life."

Isaac clenched his eyes shut and hugged Mia's waist as tight as he could, sensing that they had moved on to an entirely different subject.

"I guess you're somewhat right. I have a new person in my life that's really special to me," he whispered into her ear, thinking of their brief moments together and the catalyst that caused this to happen.

Mia blushed, feeling his breath tickle her ear, and mumbled into the slightly damp cloth of his shoulder, "And I have someone new in my life too, someone who's more important to me than anyone else in the world."

And it happened because of Alex.

The lighthouse suddenly shook again, and they broke apart, thoughts swiming turbulently in their heads. Mia smiled shyly at Isaac and he smiled shyly right back, both sensing that something... _different_ had happened.

Tentatively Mia reached her hand out, and Isaac took it, loving the feel of her silky skin sliding against his own callused hands. Sweeping his eyes across the room he squeezed her hand lightly and they began walking, the air around them sizzling with power and magic.

A blast of wind screamed across them when they emerged from the slate gray steps to the cobbled roof of the lighthouse, hands still linked together. Isaac regretfully let his hand slip away from Mia's as he strode out in front of her, sword held in both hands in front of him in a defensive position.

Saturos and Menardi stood there, arms crossed, smiling darkly as light exploded behind them, bathing them in a blue glow. Isaac started to run at them in a mindless desperation, but stopped abruptly when Mia collapsed to her knees.

"I have failed in the one duty placed upon me..." she murmured. "This is terrible."

A man emerged from behind Saturos, a hideous green and white mask adorning his face, unruly brown hair sticking out everywhere. He seemed to recognize Isaac, for he took a tiny step towards him, hesitated, and then continued walking. At a still-safe distance he stopped, and then slowly slid off the mask with one burly hand.

"So it's you, Isaac!"

"Felix," Isaac breathed out, eyes open in astonishment. The wind blew both their words away though, and they were left facing each other, Isaac's sword still held at ready and Felix still in his defensive position.

Menardi squinted at them and jumped back a bit. Then, realizing what she'd just done, she ran a manicured hand through her blond hair and forcefully took a step forward, though her shoulders were trembling. Nervously she laughed, "Heh heh! Those kids are still alive?"

She took a look at Mia and frowned. "Where's the other one?"

Isaac gritted his teeth at this reminder and yelled, "We're after the Elemental Stars!"

Menardi's shoulder sagged as Saturos took a tiny step towards her, trying to reassure himself with her presence.

"In other words, they've come to stop us," she hissed venomously, though there was a terrified lilt in her voice. As if the next words were too heavy to say, she forced out slowly, "Then we have no choice... Let's take care of them now, before they can do any harm!" She stepped forward, baring her sharp teeth in what was meant to be a predatory smile, her fingertips beginning to spark with fire.

Saturos put a hand on her shoulder and said, "Menardi... wait!"

Menardi whipped around, her face falling, and cried, "Oh, Saturos, they want to..."

Quietly he touched her cheek and said, "I know." Turning to face Isaac he yelled, "You have endured so much, and now you want to throw your life away!"

When Isaac didn't respond, continuing to gaze at them with a stone-faced expression, Saturos sighed in defeat and said, "Fine. If that is your wish, prepare to have it granted."

Now it was Menardi's turn to look worried and sneak glances at Saturos.

"Saturos... Are you going to fight them alone?"

Haltingly he said, "I want to see how much their powers have developed."

"Are you sure about this, Saturos?"

Bravely he yelled, "Leave me be! Head for the next lighthouse-now!"

At this Menardi turned around and called, "Felix!" then rushed away. Isaac briefly considered going after them, but faced with a formidable opponent he decided to stay right where he was instead.

Saturos snarled, "If you wish to get them, you'll have to beat me first!"

Isaac answered that by taking another step forward, sword held slightly to the side, reading for offensive action now on this rocky slippery battlefield, but froze again when Mia reached for his blue sleeve and yelled, "No! Get back!"

Saturos taunted, "What's the matter?"

Mia gave a dirty glare at him before yelling to Isaac, "Saturos is extremely powerful." Narrowing her eyes she got into a battle-ready stance, aligning herself with Isaac. "We'll have to match his strength..."

"Match me? Pah! You think you can match the great Saturos?"

His eyes were trained upon Mia, and she got the feeling that his cocky words were really only spoken to her, and not meant for Isaac at all. But he should be speaking to Isaac, for he was the one who was actually fighting, and there was no frozen chance in hell that Isaac was stronger than this monstrous force mocking them in front.

Isaac merely quirked the corners of his mouth up and said, "Yes."

A slightly afraid scowl graced Saturos's pallid blue features and he said, "You overestimate your chances. Fine then... I'll just teach you all a lesson!"

He hadn't taken more than a couple steps before he stumbled, but he quickly uprighted himself and glanced worriedly at the brilliant blue light still blasting from the beacon in the center of the lighthouse. Mia frowned and asked, "What happened? Saturos is moving strangely."

"What's this? The light of Mercury... It's weakening my Psynergy! I must finish this quickly... Come on,fools!"

With a battlecry, he charged Isaac, who screamed and did the same thing. Saturos quickly brought his sword up, which Isaac parried, but then blew a small fireball into Isaac's stomach, causing him to yelp in pain. Ignoring it Isaac slid his sword out of the deadlock they had and whipped a horizontal cut that Saturos was barely able to dodge, the steel of Isaac's blade nipping his armor instead.

Isaac raised his hand and let golden light gather in his hand, commanding stone spikes to shoot out of the ground. Saturos had to drop the offensive for a while and concentrate instead on not being impaled by the spikes, which shook ominously right where they were about to emerge. Still he was grazed on his left arm, and the only thing he was glad for was that Isaac couldn't attack him while this assault raged on for fear of being struck through himself.

Suddenly Saturos found himself being hit by hail stones as well, which while were not quite so damaging, were very painful and couldn't be avoided. Cursing he put an arm to his forehead and continued to try to avoid the still emerging spikes. Isaac stared on, surprised, then snuck a grateful look at Mia, who grinned and waggled her fingers, reverberating with blue light. It was at this moment that the spikes receded for the last time, and he barely had time to bring up his sword to parry Saturos's attack, caught off-guard because of the brief look. The sword jarred all feeling out of his left arm, which had been the weak arm and so couldn't block nearly as well. The tip of Saturos's sword ran across Isaac's left shoulder, and he winced as it cut a deep gash.

As soon as it happened though a blue light began pulsing against Isaac, and he found his skin good as new and his arm feeling perfectly fine again. He didn't bother wasting time thanking Mia but instead launched an assault, stabbing and slicing with a quick flurry of attacks, both hands on the hilt for better control.

Saturos reeled from this sudden change of pace, and had to keep on taking steps back, unable to do fire magic because both hands had to be used to defend decently against this onslaught. The beam of light pulsed and he slid, the only thing saving him from a painful death his quick reflexes and daring to hold the blade of his sword, bringing it up against the vertical slash of Isaac's sword. They clanged with a harsh loud sound, and as soon as it struck Saturos rolled away again.

They were both breathing heavily by now, the gasps for air reaching each other's ears even in this howling wind, ears tuned to the enemie's fatigue and power.

Saturos had a giant fire in his red eyes, so bright that it was like a blaze that would burn itself out. He flicked a quick glance at the blue-haired figure cautiously stepping towards Isaac, quarterstaff held out towards Saturos for defense. Realizing that he could do no more than that Saturos sprinted towards Mia, sword at his waist and behind him so he could get the most powerful slash.

Mia flinched and held out her staff in a blind hope of preventing his frenzied attack, but she was no warrior and knew that he would probably dispatch her very easily.

Saturos knew this too and smiled darkly, his sword just about to sweep right over her staff and slice through Mia's neck when Isaac appeared in front of him out of no where, and calmly stuck his sword right through Saturos's gut. Saturos still had enough momentum to continue the attack, and his sword jammed itself into Isaac's neck, screaming a horrible sound as it scraped against Isaac's bones.

They stared at each other for a moment, almost-kin but definitely not, bloody red eyes matching bloody red eyes, power emanating from both of them, before falling, crumpling right next to each other.

Mia stared at them, the lifeblood oozing out of them and being drinked up greedily by the dehydrated dusty stones, the wind spraying droplets of their blood into her clothes, blending into the wool and staining it an ugly purple. What was really a few seconds seemed like an eternity to her, as a male doppelganger of Mia materialized in front of her, wind swirling around him and blowing away even more blood.

The man began to speak, uttering, "He had been weakened..."

Mia did not even seem to hear the man. The only indication that she'd recognized the voice at all was the sudden shriek that ripped out of her, despairing and terrible to hear.

"Noooo!"

As the scream became ever lengthening and piercing, the tower began to rumble and the light glowed ever brighter, as Mia began to float, wind blowing a mini tornado around her, infused with ultrabright blue light.

* * *

Ok, in all honesty, I never planned this. Won't make people want to kill me less, but don't worry, the story's not over, so he can't be dead. (well he can be, but he can't be dead dead) But I figured him dying worked pretty well as a chapter-ender, and it fits right into my next part. Wheee.

The title sucked. I know that. But I couldn't think of a better one.

I got an e-mail going around about and its new rules, but I checked multiple times and couldn't find the part that said don't respond to reviewers, so I'm going to go ahead and try it. Unless I get banned on the first offense, in which some caring soul kindly warn me quickly so I can take them off.

I mentioned a couple chapters back that I wanted beta readers, and I'm really glad that I got some offers. However, if I want to finish the chapters in time I really can't afford to get a beta reader, but if I ever do another GS series and you're still up for it I'd love to have you beta for me!

edit: Did a quick edit b/c of something Princess Viv noticed. Thanks, luv!

**Raitei:** Yup, IsaacMia. Yay! I've got an AlexMia fic in the works, but this isn't it. However, I really don't think it would make sense for her to forget him that quickly, so yeah. Still some past attraction, though he really all but disappears from the scene here. Not intentional, but it seems like it's working out okay.

**Kodoku:** And then I hit you with something else. :P Hope you still like it though!

**Sorceress Sakura:** Plushie? ((holds out hands with puppy-dog eyes))

**Won't tell yet:** You thought I'd never... review? ((can't remember which stories she's reviewed, as she just flicks through them like every five months)) I'll try not to take a year to review for any other stories you write, although it'd help if I know who you are, but whatever.

**Mesoforte Nebulous:** Well actually... how fast can you get a chapter back to me?

**Trixie's Girl:** Well now he can. He's just, indisposed again.

One final note. I like reviews. I also like seeing the counter go up on the number of hits for my story, but it makes me sad when people read it and don't review. Yes, I will admit it, I am a review whore. But I will beg nicely. Please?


	11. Intermission: Spark of Life

**_Silence _**

_Chapter 11: Intermission_

Gah. This will probably be rather confusing; it's a continuation of the Interlude, aka Chapter 5, because originally I had it tied into the story. However, I never got Chapter 5 right so that people could understand it, and this isn't much better. Very likely you'll be so confused you want to stop reading, because it isn't exactly a great piece of writing either. At any rate, I hope you just bear with me, because you won't have to deal with anymore of this kinda esoteric crap after this chapter. After this one we race towards the ending. Woohoo!

* * *

Garet had been running for hours, or perhaps it was days. Or maybe it was just a few minutes, but it didn't really matter; what was important was that he keep running, pumping screaming legs in pursuit of an image that burned clear of his mind and away from the terrifying darkness that seemed to engulf everything behind him. Running just to keep running, to keep doing what he'd been doing before. Besides, if he kept on swinging his arms and moving his legs, eventually he would find Jenna, even though one object moving with the other at standstill had a better chance of finding each other than two objects moving. He had no way of knowing whether Jenna was moving or not, or indeed even existant in this scary hellish place, so his best chance was to keep moving. Some primal instinct told him this, and since it was all he had left in this desolate unending world, he followed it with all the power in him.

A random fire flared to life in front of him and he just narrowly missed being charred to a crisp by it, though it wouldn't have mattered anyway, as he healed and regenerated limbs and skin in this black place, which one might consider a godsend, but he'd found out that it only served to torture him yet more, regenerating things just to have them dealt waves of pain all over again.

_Just keep running_, he thought to himself. He summoned up his memories of Jenna, trying to remind himself of what he needed to do and keep him inspired. Jenna, hooking her tiny child's fist into his cheek, reddish-brownish eyes colored like desert rocks flashing, angry at Garet mocking her for looking like a boy with her raggedy self-styled crew cut. Jenna, thick mane of brilliant red hair flying out from behind her messy ponytail, curved features slimming into a more delicately shaped nose and mouth, but still as nimble and strong as ever, gloating with a quite unladylike air over beating him in a race, then choking the air out of him in a headlock after he said so. Jenna, face painted with all the things she would never say as his vision faded into a murky black-red, already unclear from the falling haze of dust.

Already he could feel himself speeding up, buoyed by the thoughts floating around in his mind. He hadn't actually seen a hint of Jenna anywhere, wasn't even sure she was really there, but something within him told him to keep looking, told him that she was there. It was like they had their own personal telepathic connection. Long ago Garet would've laughed it off and dismissed it as girly nonsense, but when it was the only thread he had to hang on to, he reached out and clenched it with all the ferocity of a true believer. _How times have changed,_ he thought.

Suddenly a pack of wolves howled, red eyes opening and closing ahead, and Garet collapsed to the ground, curled up into a ball with his hands around his just-mended breeches, ready for pain to begin ripping into him as the wolves devoured his flesh in a hungry frenzy. This had already happened to him too many times to count, and the only comfort he could take from it was that the next time he would still be around and able to move. Able to find Jenna.

He was surprised when the sharp teeth that normally dug into his skin with an inhuman speed merely grazed against it lightly, and he opened his eyes to stare at a mass of shaggy gray fur. The wolves were all facing towards what he thought was east, evidently having been distracted by something with far more power than he had. He could feel it himself, a crushing weight making his movements slower than a snail, flattening his lungs and instilling pure fear into his every fiber.

And there it was, a hulking entity that exuded pure darkness even in this place of pitch black. Crimson eyes glowed from behind a sneering snout, its lipless mouth baring the slightest hint of fangs, which had a sheen of corrosive acid coating them, eating into the yellowed teeth only to have to repeat the process as the enamel regenerated itself again. Fearsome spikes jutted from its back, rising high above it and giving it the image of being even larger than it actually was, which was still quite giant.

It did not open its mouth, for which Garet was very thankful for, as he did not care to find out what rode upon its breath, but nevertheless he experienced a ringing thought in his mind, intoxicating and painful.

_Hello Garet._

Garet jumped and clamped ears over his ears, eyes wide then squeezed shut tightly, as if closing them would make a difference in this total night world anyway. _How does it know who I am?_

_It is my business to know who you are._

It laughed humorlessly, and Garet had to scramble to get out of the way of the frosty white air that pillowed out from its mouth and nostrils. He had the opportunity of seeing firsthand what it did when it brushed against one of the wolves and instantly froze his legs and entire right side to not even ice - shattered ice. A minute later the wolf had regenerated the parts that he'd lost, but it was still horrifying to watch.

_Donotrundonotgiveindonotcryohgodohgod-_ Garet found his legs shaking of their own accord and turning him around, taking infinitely futile steps in a pitiful attempt to get away from the monster.

It wasn't the demon that shifted; the _world_ phased out for barely a moment and then Garet found himself facing the monster again, whose wings were spread out wide, displaying all the tattered holes in them and giving Garet an ever bigger sense of being swallowed whole by the darkness.

_Will you run?_ Its eyes were still mocking him, manipulating him into what it wanted, and Garet knew that he had no choice but to face him, not that he would've done something else. It had been his legs that had disobeyed, not his mind.

"No," he said as loudly as he could, but it still rung small and miniscule in his ears against the deafening colorlessness that draped over everything like a heavy blanket.

Flames flared up around him, illuminating the creature clearly, and Garet suddenly recalled the terror-filled first encounter that made him forget nearly everything. The terrible voice invaded his mind again, forcing out all other thoughts and making him only able to concentrate on the pain that exploded behind his eyes.

_What are you willing to give up?_

_What?_

_What are you willing to give up?_ The demon asked again, malice and knowing in the vibrations of its voice. Garet didn't quite know in his conscious mind what he was talking about, but before he had even given clear thought to it one word rang out in his head.

_Everything._

It closed its mouth, leaving just the two largest fangs out, which grew in length until they were like mirrors themselves, reflecting the eerie light given off by the fire back. In the dances between shadow and light, the demon looked as if he were smiling.

_Then show me._

And it began. The encircling flames rose ever higher, creating a wall that was impassable by even the most invincible creatures. Even as a fire adept accustomed to heat, Garet felt himself sweltering in the veritable inferno.

A gargantuan hand swiped at him and Garet narrowly missed not just having his head lopped off, but his entire body swatted away like a fly.

He crouched and rolled in tandem with the demon's swift swipes, unable to do anything else. He was sure that the giant midnight-black being before him was merely toying with him; the lethal calws extended from the ghastly arm with such quickness that Garet couldn't even see it until it snaked out right in front of him, yet he was always able to escape them just by a hair.

_You are weak._ The creature said it matter-of-factly, even as it continued to rain blows down on him.

Suddenly it threw flames at him, and Garet screamed at the burst of pain that arose from the searing sensation in his leg. Even with his tolerance for fire, this was just too much. A normal person would've passed out from the flames already.

As soon as the flames receded his charred skin began patching itself into tender pink, but then his arm was hit by it, and then every other part of his body imaginable.

Garet screamed until his voice was hoarse, throat sore from the sound that tried to erupt into a yell even as it died, and when the fire finally disappeared and no more appeared, he could only lie on the endless floor, crippled and beaten.

_And you intend to save her with this?_ The demon's voice was brutal, mocking, and the blows rained down on him ever harder, with the intent to almost-kill, and Garet took it all in, feeling every bump that swelled up only to recede again as it hungered for more.

_No._ Somewhere within him that word began chanting a resolve in his heart, and even as he felt pain jabbing at him strength began to flow in his veins, brought on by the desperation to stay aware, but also the determination to follow through.

A fire he hadn't known had been smudged out flared to life again, flames enveloping him and nesting him within its protective circle. Suddenly he did not feel the searing heat so much anymore, instead reveling in a soft warmth and a sound long forgotten but so amazing to hear.

He could hear his heart beating, feel his fingers warmed by the blood that flowed through them.

_No._ He repeated this to himself, sensing himself grow stronger mentally, if not physically as well, and when he opened his clenched fist a stream of fire shot out of his palm, clashing with the almost-stunned demon's icy breath and forcing it to a stalemate.

He walked toward it, ignoring the angry strikes at him that drew blood but bled themselves, a strange black oozing caused by the tendrils of fire that rose all around Garet.

The world had turned from a hazy gray picture with the only sparkle being the demon to an actual color-filled world, where the wolves had blue eyes and speckles in the distance spoke of people, and he could see Jenna.

But she couldn't see him, her eyes looking through him and only afraid of the monster which had now ceased its attacks and instead stared with a hating fervor at the auburn-haired girl Garet was determined to save.

He rushed in front of the demon's onslaught and summoned a pit of fire to ward him off, but the monster's giant wings opened and it took to the air, somehow managing to fly with the mangled wings. (though this was its world, so Garet supposed it could do anything)

_You shall not interfere._ With those words it swept its spike-tipped tail around and threw Garet off to the side, encircling him with the clear-eyed wolves.

He thrashed through them though, their shaggy fur gritty and real against his bare arms, and reached Jenna just in time to ward off another great strike which snapped his arm in half. _NO._ he repeated, even as he squeezed his eyes shut to calm down the electric pain coursing through his entire body.

_No._

He snapped his eyes open, suddenly feeling power in every fiber of his being. The flames rose higher again, but this time it was because of him, not the creature that had narrowed its eyes at him, and he felt only more warmth. Even though Garet heard an audible gasp from behind him and a paralyzed whisper of, "Garet?" he did not pause in the feeding of the tornado of flame that howled all around them. The being in front of him looked throughly uncomfortable now, and for the first time somewhat scared.

Garet trembled from the strain of it all, until the power finally threatened to overspill and explode, and then he let go. The flames whipped past his ear, everywhere, and the demon screamed, a long, piercing shriek that near-shattered Garet's earlobes and spoke of pain and terror... and change.

He knew this, though he did not know why. What he did know was that the girl with hair and eyes the same color as the flames had crawled in front of him and was passing a hand through his legs as if they were insubstantial, and her eyes were filled with a terrible mixture of happiness and sorrow.

He sank to his knees slowly, the disappearance of the monster forgotten as he drew level with the heart-shaped face before him, passing a hand through her body and to where her face would be if it were corporeal, and not feeling but knowing all the same that she was reciprocating as well.

He'd thought he could save her, could see her, and technically he had, but he couldn't help the feeling of misery that came over him all the same. Perhaps it would've been better to have forgotten all than to have to experience and cling on to this.

Until a bright blue light enveloped them, completely foreign but so gentle they couldn't help but let it into their systems, and their eyes closed slowly as their forms shimmered in the dimensions of the world.

The last thing Garet saw before losing consciousness was the prone form of Isaac in a distance not too far from themselves, charred and bloody as if he had sustained a deep slash and a horrific burning, saturated by the same glowing blue light.

* * *

Mucho thanks goes out to Mesoforte Nebulous and raitei for betaing for me. Thanks guys:)

BTW, if anyone's interested I have the ending written out. Now I just need to get all the major plot points in between. But the finale is nigh indeed.

**Mesoforte Nebulous:** Yeah, that was pretty quick. Some nice word choices, wouldn't have thought of them at all actually.

**raitei:** Me no see update from you ever since me reviewed your story. xP

**Princess Viv:** I've had Dauthi forever, I just used Tiger Dauthi here at first b/c AIM didn't have the sn Dauthi, but since I've discovered that most places don't have Dauthi registered already including I've gone back. Just a personal preference really. About writing GS fanfiction, what can I say, I've branched out. I don't even really do video games anymore, thanks to not owning a PS of any kind, DS, GC, or PSP. But we'll see, eh?

**Spastic Djinn:** Thanks:)

**Kudoku:** ((lies dead on the floor, strangled to death)) Now how will you get the next chapter, eh? xP

**Insanity Team:** Was that fast enough? ((snarfs brownies anyway)) xD

**Dragoon Knight:** Well the summary does indeed say IsaacMia. :D Hoped you liked this chapter!

**Servant of GOD:** Isaac's still evil in the images of people who witnessed his birth. ((shrugs))

**Sorceress of Sakura:** Dude, my friend made these completely insane Avenue Q puppets, so you can definitely do it. I'm all for it! ((huggles Isaac plushie))


End file.
